James Stephenson (actor)
{{Short description|British-American actor (1889–1941)}}
{{EngvarB|date=November 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name = James Stephenson
| image = James Stephenson in The Letter trailer.jpg
| caption = Featured in trailer for The Letter (1940)
| birth_name = James Albert Stephenson
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1889|4|14}}
| birth_place = Selby, West Riding of Yorkshire,Before 1 April 1974 Selby was in the West Riding of Yorkshire England
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1941|7|29|1889|4|14}}
| death_place = Pacific Palisades, California, US
| occupation = Actor
| spouse = Lorna Anderson Stephenson
| years_active = 1937–1941
}}
James Albert Stephenson (14 April 1889 – 29 July 1941) was a British stage and film actor. He took up film acting at 49 and after a typically slow start delivered an Academy Award-nominated performance in the William Wyler-directed melodrama, The Letter in 1940. The roles offered to Stephenson dramatically improved following this performance, but he died just a year later at 52.
Early life
Stephenson was the son of chemist and druggist John G. Stephenson and his wife Emma. He grew up in the West Riding of Yorkshire and Burnley, Lancashire, with his brothers, Alan and Norman. He became a bank clerk and later had a career as a merchant. In the 1930s, he emigrated to the United States and took U.S. nationality in 1938.
Career
After acting on the stage, Stephenson made his film debut in 1937 at age 48, initially making films in Britain. Warner Bros. signed him the following year, and he began playing urbane villains and disgraced gentlemen.{{cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/james-stephenson-p68010|title=James Stephenson – Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos – AllMovie|website=AllMovie}} His big break came when director William Wyler cast him as a conscience-stricken lawyer, in spite of studio resistance, in The Letter (1940), opposite Bette Davis.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/184111%7C78229/James-Stephenson/|title=Overview for James Stephenson|year=2005|publisher=Turner Classic Movies|access-date=1 August 2016}} He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for this role.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9gC2ZSh5qJQC&q=James+Stephenson+academy+awards+the+letter&pg=PA227|title=Reel Justice: The Courtroom Goes to the Movies|first1=Paul|last1=Bergman|first2=Michael|last2=Asimow|date=1 April 2006|publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing|isbn=9780740754609|via=Google Books}} Later that year, he played the title role in Calling Philo Vance.{{cite web|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a7031b0|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171009211104/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a7031b0|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 October 2017|title=Calling Philo Vance (1940)}} In 1941 he was first-billed in Shining Victory, in which he played the character of Dr. Paul Venner.{{cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/shining-victory-v109908/cast-crew|title=Shining Victory (1941) – Irving Rapper – Cast and Crew – AllMovie|website=AllMovie}}
Just as Stephenson's acting career was starting to rise, he died of a heart attack at the age of 52.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZraJCgAAQBAJ&q=James+Stephenson+heart+attack&pg=PA71|title=Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory|first=Allan R.|last=Ellenberger|date=1 May 2001|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786450190|via=Google Books}} He is interred at Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park.{{cite book |last1=Ellenberger |first1=Allan R. |title=Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory |date=2001 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9780786450190 |page=71 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZraJCgAAQBAJ&dq=%22James+Stephenson%22+actor&pg=PA71 |access-date=October 20, 2019 |language=en}}
Partial filmography
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
- The Perfect Crime (1937) - Parker
- The Man Who Made Diamonds (1937) - Ben
- You Live and Learn (1937) - Sam Brooks
- Take It from Me (1937) - Lewis
- The Dark Stairway (1938) - Inspector Clarke
- White Banners (1938) - Thomas Bradford
- Mr. Satan (1938) - Tim Garnett
- It's in the Blood (1938) - Milky Joe
- When Were You Born (1938) - Phillip 'Phil' Corey (Libra)
- Cowboy from Brooklyn (1938) - Prof. Landis
- Boy Meets Girl (1938) - Major Thompson
- Nancy Drew... Detective (1938) - Challon
- Heart of the North (1938) - Inspector Stephen Gore
- Devil's Island (1939) - Col. Armand Lucien
- King of the Underworld (1939) - Bill Stevens
- Torchy Blane in Chinatown (1939) - Mr. Mansfield
- Secret Service of the Air (1939) - Jim Cameron
- The Adventures of Jane Arden (1939) - Dr. George Vanders
- On Trial (1939) - Gerald Trask
- Wanted by Scotland Yard (1939) - Fingers
- Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939) - British Military Intelligence Agent
- Sons of Liberty (1939, Short) - Colonel Tillman
- Beau Geste (1939) - Major Henri de Beaujolais
- The Old Maid (1939) - Jim Ralston
- Espionage Agent (1939) - Dr. Anton Rader
- The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) - Sir Thomas Egerton
- We Are Not Alone (1939) - Sir William Clintock
- Wolf of New York (1940) - Hiram Rogers
- Calling Philo Vance (1940) - Philo Vance
- Murder in the Air (1940) - Joe Garvey
- River's End (1940) - Insp. McDowell
- The Sea Hawk (1940) - Abbott
- A Dispatch from Reuters (1940) - Carew
- The Letter (1940) - Howard Joyce
- South of Suez (1940) - Inspector Thornton
- Flight from Destiny (1941) - Dr. Lawrence Stevens
- Shining Victory (1941) - Dr. Paul Venner
- International Squadron (1941) - Squadron Leader Charles Wyatt
- The Smiling Ghost (1941) - John Eggleston in Photo (uncredited) (final film role)
{{div col end}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons}}
- {{IMDb name | id=0827263 | name=James Stephenson}}
- {{Find a Grave|11505}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephenson, James}}
Category:English male film actors
Category:Male actors from North Yorkshire
Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Category:20th-century English male actors
Category:British expatriate male actors in the United States