Acting · Selby, Yorkshire, England, UK · Born April 13, 1889
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
1941
as Squadron Leader Charles Wyatt
MovieShining Victory
1941
as Dr. Paul Venner
MovieFlight from Destiny
1941
as Dr. Lawrence 'Larry' Stevens
MovieThe Letter
1940
as Howard Joyce
MovieSouth of Suez
1940
as Inspector Thornton
MovieA Dispatch from Reuters
1940
as Carew
MovieThe Sea Hawk
1940
as Abbott
MovieRiver's End
1940
as McDowell
MovieMurder in the Air
1940
as Joe Garvey
MovieCalling Philo Vance
1940
as Philo Vance
Wolf of New York
1940
as Hiram Rogers
MovieWe Are Not Alone
1939
as Sir William Clintock
MovieThe Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
1939
as Sir Thomas Egerton
MovieThe Monroe Doctrine
1939
as Senor De La Torre
MovieEspionage Agent
1939
as Dr. Anton Rader
MovieThe Old Maid
1939
as Jim Ralston
MovieBeau Geste
1939
as Major Henri de Beaujolais
MovieSons of Liberty
1939
as Colonel Tillman
MovieConfessions of a Nazi Spy
1939
as British Military Intelligence Agent
MovieWanted by Scotland Yard
1939
as Fingers
MovieOn Trial
1939
as Gerald Trask
MovieThe Adventures of Jane Arden
1939
as Dr. George Vanders
MovieSecret Service of the Air
1939
as Jim Cameron
MovieTorchy Blane in Chinatown
1939
as Dr. Mansfield
MovieKing of the Underworld
1939
as Bill Stevens
MovieDevil's Island
1939
as Col. Armand Lucien
MovieHeart of the North
1938
as Stephen Gore
MovieNancy Drew… Detective
1938
as Challon
MovieBoy Meets Girl
1938
as Major Thompson
MovieCowboy from Brooklyn
1938
as Prof. Landis
MovieWhite Banners
1938
as Thomas Bradford
MovieWhen Were You Born
1938
as Phillip Corey
Mr. Satan
1938
as Tim Garnett
The Dark Stairway
1938
as Inspector Clarke
The Man Who Made Diamonds
1937
as Ben
You Live and Learn
1937
as Sam Brooks
Transatlantic Trouble
1937
as Lewis
