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James Stephenson

1889-04-13

The 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)

James Stephenson in

Movies

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The Letter

7.3 average rating
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The Sea Hawk

7.145 average rating
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The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex

6.225 average rating
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The Old Maid

7.1 average rating
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Confessions of a Nazi Spy

6 average rating
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Beau Geste

6.9 average rating
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A Dispatch from Reuters

5.7 average rating
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King of the Underworld

6.354 average rating
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The Monroe Doctrine

7 average rating
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Espionage Agent

5.9 average rating
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Cowboy from Brooklyn

4 average rating
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Secret Service of the Air

5.8 average rating
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Boy Meets Girl

6.2 average rating
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Calling Philo Vance

5.8 average rating
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River's End

6 average rating
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Devil's Island

5.4 average rating
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Nancy Drew… Detective

6.3 average rating
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Wolf of New York

7 average rating
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We Are Not Alone

6.2 average rating
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White Banners

5.8 average rating