James Stephenson
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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)
Known for
Credits
Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939)
as British Military Intelligence Agent
The Sea Hawk (1940)
as Abbott
The Letter (1940)
as Howard Joyce
Nancy Drew… Detective (1938)
as Challon
Beau Geste (1939)
as Major Henri de Beaujolais
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
as Sir Thomas Egerton
King of the Underworld (1939)
as Bill Stevens
Devil's Island (1939)
as Col. Armand Lucien
Espionage Agent (1939)
as Dr. Anton Rader
A Dispatch from Reuters (1940)
as Carew
The Old Maid (1939)
as Jim Ralston
Boy Meets Girl (1938)
as Major Thompson
Flight from Destiny (1941)
as Dr. Lawrence 'Larry' Stevens
International Squadron (1941)
as Squadron Leader Charles Wyatt
Secret Service of the Air (1939)
as Jim Cameron
The Adventures of Jane Arden (1939)
as Dr. George Vanders
Murder in the Air (1940)
as Joe Garvey
Sons of Liberty (1939)
as Colonel Tillman
When Were You Born (1938)
as Phillip Corey
White Banners (1938)
as Thomas Bradford
We Are Not Alone (1939)
as Sir William Clintock
Shining Victory (1941)
as Dr. Paul Venner
Torchy Blane in Chinatown (1939)
as Dr. Mansfield
Cowboy from Brooklyn (1938)
as Prof. Landis
On Trial (1939)
as Gerald Trask
Heart of the North (1938)
as Stephen Gore
The Monroe Doctrine (1939)
as Senor De La Torre
South of Suez (1940)
as Inspector Thornton
Wolf of New York (1940)
as Hiram Rogers
River's End (1940)
as McDowell
Calling Philo Vance (1940)
as Philo Vance
The Man Who Made Diamonds (1937)
as Ben
The Dark Stairway (1938)
as Inspector Clarke
Transatlantic Trouble (1937)
as Lewis
Mr. Satan (1938)
as Tim Garnett
You Live and Learn (1937)
as Sam Brooks
Wanted by Scotland Yard (1939)
as Fingers