JS
James Stephenson
Actor
Born April 13, 1889Died July 29, 1941 (52 years)
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)
Date of Death: 29 July 1941, Pacific Palisades, California (heart attack)
Filmography
| 2008 | Strictly Courtroom · as Howard Joyce |
| 1941 | The Smiling Ghost · as John Eggleston In Photo |
| 1941 | International Squadron · as Squadron Leader Charles Wyatt |
| 1941 | Shining Victory · as Dr. Paul Venner |
| 1941 | Flight from Destiny · as Dr. Lawrence 'larry' Stevens |
| 1940 | The Letter · as Howard Joyce |
| 1940 | South of Suez · as Inspector Thornton |
| 1940 | A Dispatch from Reuters · as Carew |
| 1940 | The Sea Hawk · as Abbott |
| 1940 | River's End · as Mcdowell |
| 1940 | Murder in the Air · as Joe Garvey |
| 1940 | Wolf of New York · as Hiram Rogers |
| 1939 | Calling Philo Vance · as Philo Vance |
| 1939 | We Are Not Alone · as Sir William Clintock |
| 1939 | The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex · as Sir Thomas Egerton |
| 1939 | Espionage Agent · as Dr. Anton Rader |
| 1939 | The Old Maid · as Jim Ralston |
| 1939 | Beau Geste · as Major Henri De Beaujolais |
| 1939 | Confessions of a Nazi Spy · as British Military Intelligence Agent |
| 1939 | On Trial · as Gerald Trask |
| 1939 | The Adventures of Jane Arden · as Dr. George Vanders |
| 1939 | Secret Service of the Air · as Jim Cameron |
| 1939 | Torchy Blane in Chinatown · as Dr. Mansfield |
| 1939 | King of the Underworld · as Bill Stevens |
| 1938 | Devil's Island · as Col. Armand Lucien |
| 1938 | Heart of the North · as Stephen Gore |
| 1938 | Nancy Drew: Detective · as Challon |
| 1938 | Boy Meets Girl · as Major Thompson |
| 1938 | Cowboy from Brooklyn · as Prof. Landis |
| 1938 | When Were You Born? · as Phillip Corey |
| 1938 | White Banners · as Thomas Bradford |
| 1937 | You Live and Learn · as Sam Brooks |