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)
Movie Appearances
Devil's Island
as Col. Armand Lucien
1939
The Sea Hawk
as Abbott
1940
King of the Underworld
as Bill Stevens
1939
Beau Geste
as Major Henri de Beaujolais
1939
The Old Maid
as Jim Ralston
1939
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
as Sir Thomas Egerton
1939
Nancy Drew… Detective
as Challon
1938
The Letter
as Howard Joyce
1940
Murder in the Air
as Joe Garvey
1940
Espionage Agent
as Dr. Anton Rader
1939
The Monroe Doctrine
as Senor De La Torre
1939
Flight from Destiny
as Dr. Lawrence 'Larry' Stevens
1941
Wolf of New York
as Hiram Rogers
1940
Secret Service of the Air
as Jim Cameron
1939
On Trial
as Gerald Trask
1939
River's End
as McDowell
1940
Calling Philo Vance
as Philo Vance
1940
The Adventures of Jane Arden
as Dr. George Vanders
1939
When Were You Born
as Phillip Corey
1938
Shining Victory
as Dr. Paul Venner
1941