James Stephenson
Acting
1889-04-13 · Selby, Yorkshire, England, UK
British stage actor James Stephenson made his film debut quite late in life, at the age of 49, in 1937, making four pictures that year. Warner Bros. got a glimpse of this distinguished gent and signed him to a contract where he indulged himself in urbane villainy. Proving a reliable support in such films as Boy Meets Girl (1938), You Can't Get Away with Murder (1939), The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), and the classic adventure The Sea Hawk (1940), he was entrusted by director William Wyler and mega-star Bette Davis to play the sympathetic role of the family attorney Howard Joyce in The Letter (1940). It was the role of a lifetime and he didn't let them down for he earned an Oscar nomination in the process. Stephenson was soon on a roll, playing the titular sleuth in Calling Philo Vance (1940) and was first-billed in the above-average "B" movie Shining Victory (1941) when he died suddenly in 1941 of a heart attack at the rather young age of 53. Date of Death: 29 July 1941, Pacific Palisades, California (heart attack)
movieInternational Squadron
as Squadron Leader Charles Wyatt · 1941 · 6.3
movieShining Victory
as Dr. Paul Venner · 1941 · 6.1
movieFlight from Destiny
as Dr. Lawrence 'Larry' Stevens · 1941 · 5.8
movieThe Letter
as Howard Joyce · 1940 · 7.3
movieSouth of Suez
as Inspector Thornton · 1940 · 4.6
movieA Dispatch from Reuters
as Carew · 1940 · 6.2
movieThe Sea Hawk
as Abbott · 1940 · 7.2
movieRiver's End
as McDowell · 1940 · 6.6
movieMurder in the Air
as Joe Garvey · 1940 · 5.2
movieCalling Philo Vance
as Philo Vance · 1940 · 6.0
movieWolf of New York
as Hiram Rogers · 1940 · 7.5
movieWe Are Not Alone
as Sir William Clintock · 1939 · 6.9
movieThe Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
as Sir Thomas Egerton · 1939 · 6.3
movieThe Monroe Doctrine
as Senor De La Torre · 1939 · 7.3
movieEspionage Agent
as Dr. Anton Rader · 1939 · 6.3
movieThe Old Maid
as Jim Ralston · 1939 · 7.1
movieBeau Geste
as Major Henri de Beaujolais · 1939 · 7.0
movieSons of Liberty
as Colonel Tillman · 1939 · 6.3
movieConfessions of a Nazi Spy
as British Military Intelligence Agent · 1939 · 6.1
movieWanted by Scotland Yard
as Fingers · 1939 · 8.0
movieOn Trial
as Gerald Trask · 1939 · 6.1
movieThe Adventures of Jane Arden
as Dr. George Vanders · 1939 · 6.3
movieSecret Service of the Air
as Jim Cameron · 1939 · 6.3
movieTorchy Blane in Chinatown
as Dr. Mansfield · 1939 · 7.0