James Stephenson

Biography

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

Beau Geste

The Sea Hawk

The Letter

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex

The Old Maid

Secret Service of the Air

Espionage Agent

We Are Not Alone

All Movies (37)

• International Squadron1941 · as Squadron Leader Charles Wyatt
• Shining Victory1941 · as Dr. Paul Venner
• Flight from Destiny1941 · as Dr. Lawrence 'Larry' Stevens
• The Letter1940 · as Howard Joyce
• South of Suez1940 · as Inspector Thornton
• A Dispatch from Reuters1940 · as Carew
• The Sea Hawk1940 · as Abbott
• River's End1940 · as McDowell
• Murder in the Air1940 · as Joe Garvey
• Calling Philo Vance1940 · as Philo Vance
• Wolf of New York1940 · as Hiram Rogers
• We Are Not Alone1939 · as Sir William Clintock
• The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex1939 · as Sir Thomas Egerton
• The Monroe Doctrine1939 · as Senor De La Torre
• Espionage Agent1939 · as Dr. Anton Rader
• The Old Maid1939 · as Jim Ralston
• Beau Geste1939 · as Major Henri de Beaujolais
• Sons of Liberty1939 · as Colonel Tillman
• Confessions of a Nazi Spy1939 · as British Military Intelligence Agent
• Wanted by Scotland Yard1939 · as Fingers
• On Trial1939 · as Gerald Trask
• The Adventures of Jane Arden1939 · as Dr. George Vanders
• Secret Service of the Air1939 · as Jim Cameron
• Torchy Blane in Chinatown1939 · as Dr. Mansfield
• King of the Underworld1939 · as Bill Stevens
• Devil's Island1939 · as Col. Armand Lucien
• Heart of the North1938 · as Stephen Gore
• Nancy Drew… Detective1938 · as Challon
• Boy Meets Girl1938 · as Major Thompson
• Cowboy from Brooklyn1938 · as Prof. Landis
• White Banners1938 · as Thomas Bradford
• When Were You Born1938 · as Phillip Corey
• Mr. Satan1938 · as Tim Garnett
• The Dark Stairway1938 · as Inspector Clarke
• The Man Who Made Diamonds1937 · as Ben
• You Live and Learn1937 · as Sam Brooks
• Transatlantic Trouble1937 · as Lewis