James Stephenson

James Stephenson

Born: April 13, 1889
Died: July 29, 1941
in Selby, Yorkshire, England, UK
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)

Movies for James Stephenson...

International Squadron
Title: International Squadron
Character: Squadron Leader Charles Wyatt
Released: August 13, 1941
Type: Movie
The true story of the exploits of the RAF's (Royal Air Force) foreign legion battling the German Luftwaffe (Nazi Germany's Air Force) during the early months of 1941 during WWII before America officially entered the war at the end of the year when Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan and Hitler declared war on the United States. The United States then drafted all of their airmen and fighter pilot aces into the United States Air Force for their own combat missions against the Luftwaffe
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Shining Victory
Title: Shining Victory
Character: Dr. Paul Venner
Released: May 30, 1941
Type: Movie
In a Scottish sanitarium, a brilliant research psychiatrist works on a treatment for dementia praecox. He falls for his altruistic female lab assistant and they begin a passionate, tragic relationship.
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Flight from Destiny
Title: Flight from Destiny
Character: Dr. Lawrence 'Larry' Stevens
Released: February 8, 1941
Type: Movie
After his doctor informs him he will die in six months, Professor Henry Todhunter decides to spend his last days killing someone who contributes nothing but harm to society. When Henry learns that his friend Betty's husband, Michael, has been painting forgeries of ancient paintings for gallery owner Ketti Moret, he investigates the fraudulent dealer's life. Judging that Ketti is truly evil, Henry prepares to murder her.
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The Letter
Title: The Letter
Character: Howard Joyce
Released: November 21, 1940
Type: Movie
After a woman shoots a man to death, a damning letter she wrote raises suspicions.
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South of Suez
Title: South of Suez
Character: Inspector Thornton
Released: November 16, 1940
Type: Movie
Greedy diamond mine owner Eli Snedeker, resentful that his ex-foreman John Gamble stopped him from taking over kindly, but drunken, mine owner Roger Smythe's mine just as he was about to strike it rich, kills Smythe and blames it on Gamble. Grabbing the diamonds, Gamble flees Africa to England where he changes his name and begins a new life. What he hasn't counted on, though, is meeting and falling in love with Smythe's daughter Katherine, who falls in love with him but can't marry him until she can deal with her hatred of John Gamble, the man she believes killed her father.
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A Dispatch from Reuters
Title: A Dispatch from Reuters
Character: Carew
Released: October 19, 1940
Type: Movie
German Julius Reuter sends 19th-century news by carrier pigeon and then by wire, founding a news agency.
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River's End
Title: River's End
Character: McDowell
Released: August 10, 1940
Type: Movie
An escaped criminal pretends to be a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in order to prove his innocence of murder. Star Dennis Morgan plays two roles.
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The Sea Hawk
Title: The Sea Hawk
Character: Abbott
Released: August 10, 1940
Type: Movie
Dashing pirate Geoffrey Thorpe plunders Spanish ships for Queen Elizabeth I and falls in love with Dona Maria, a beautiful Spanish royal he captures.
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Murder in the Air
Title: Murder in the Air
Character: Joe Garvey
Released: June 1, 1940
Type: Movie
Enemy agents are everywhere and they are sabotaging all important war deliveries. The body of a hobo found in a train wreck had a money belt with $50,000 and a tattoo of a circle and arrow. This is a tattoo for saboteurs for hire and Brass must impersonate the dead man to find out what his orders are. As Steve Coe, he meets with the band of enemy agents in California and everything goes well until the wife of the dead 'Hobo' shows up. Luckily, Gabby is able to save Brass and Brass learns what is his assignment. He is to board the USN airship 'Mason', which is testing the super secret Inertia Projector, and destroy the airship.
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Calling Philo Vance
Title: Calling Philo Vance
Character: Philo Vance
Released: February 3, 1940
Type: Movie
Philo is in Vienna working for the US Government to see if Archer Coe is selling aircraft designs to foreign powers. He grabs the plans with Archer's signature, but is captured by police before he can escape. Deported he comes back to America and plans to confront Archer, but Archer is found dead in his locked bedroom with a gun in his hand. While it looks like a suicide, Vance knows better and the coroner finds that Archer has been shot, hit with a blunt instrument and stabbed - making suicide unlikely. But Vance is on the case and is looking to see if government secrets have been sold and who has murdered Coe. This is a remake of "The Kennel Murder Case" using aircraft designs and espionage instead of Chinese porcelain and dog shows.
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Wolf of New York
Title: Wolf of New York
Character: Hiram Rogers
Released: January 23, 1940
Type: Movie
A New York attorney defends a young man with a criminal past who has been accused of murdering a police inspector.
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We Are Not Alone
Title: We Are Not Alone
Character: Sir William Clintock
Released: November 25, 1939
Type: Movie
A British doctor and his son's Austrian governess have an affair and are accused of killing his wife.
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The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
Title: The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
Character: Sir Thomas Egerton
Released: November 11, 1939
Type: Movie
This period drama frames the tumultuous affair between Queen Elizabeth I and the man who would be King of England.
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The Monroe Doctrine
Title: The Monroe Doctrine
Character: Senor De La Torre
Released: October 14, 1939
Type: Movie
The story of President Monroe's response to attempts by Spain to interfere in South America.
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Espionage Agent
Title: Espionage Agent
Character: Dr. Anton Rader
Released: September 30, 1939
Type: Movie
When Barry Corvall discovers that his new bride is a possible enemy agent, he resigns from the diplomatic service to go undercover to route out an espionage ring planning to destroy American industrial capability.
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The Old Maid
Title: The Old Maid
Character: Jim Ralston
Released: August 16, 1939
Type: Movie
The lives of two cousins are complicated by the return of an ex-boyfriend and an illegitimate child.
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Beau Geste
Title: Beau Geste
Character: Major Henri de Beaujolais
Released: July 24, 1939
Type: Movie
When three brothers join the Foreign Legion to escape a troubled past, they find themselves trapped under the command of a sadistic sergeant deep in the scorching Sahara. Now the brothers must fight for their lives as they plot mutiny against tyranny and defend a desert fortress against a brutal enemy.
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Sons of Liberty
Title: Sons of Liberty
Character: Colonel Tillman
Released: May 20, 1939
Type: Movie
Set during the American Revolution, this colorful 2 reel short tells the story of Haym Salomon, American patriot and financier of the American Revolution.
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Confessions of a Nazi Spy
Title: Confessions of a Nazi Spy
Character: British Military Intelligence Agent
Released: May 6, 1939
Type: Movie
FBI agent Ed Renard investigates the pre-War espionage activities of the German-American Bund.
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Wanted by Scotland Yard
Title: Wanted by Scotland Yard
Character: Fingers
Released: April 19, 1939
Type: Movie
A safecracker, just released from prison, falls in love with a young woman who wants him to go straight. He finds, however, that going straight is easier said than done.
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On Trial
Title: On Trial
Character: Gerald Trask
Released: April 1, 1939
Type: Movie
An ambitious attorney (Edward Norris) tries to prove a man (John Litel) who killed to protect his wife's (Margaret Lindsay) honor was justified.
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The Adventures of Jane Arden
Title: The Adventures of Jane Arden
Character: Dr. George Vanders
Released: March 18, 1939
Type: Movie
Reporter Jane Arden goes undercover to try to expose a gang of jewel thieves and smugglers. Her mission becomes more dangerous when her identity is discovered early on by one of the gang leaders.
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Secret Service of the Air
Title: Secret Service of the Air
Character: Jim Cameron
Released: March 4, 1939
Type: Movie
Brass Bancroft and his sidekick Gabby Watters are recruited onto the secret service and go undercover to crack a ruthless gang that smuggles illegal aliens.
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Torchy Blane in Chinatown
Title: Torchy Blane in Chinatown
Character: Dr. Mansfield
Released: February 2, 1939
Type: Movie
Torchy Blane joins her police-detective fiance to solve a series of murders involving a set of Chinese grave tablets taken and sold to a collector and death-threats written in Chinese characters.
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King of the Underworld
Title: King of the Underworld
Character: Bill Stevens
Released: January 14, 1939
Type: Movie
Physician Carole Nelson, suspected of having ties to notorious gangster Joe Gurney, must prove her innocence or the Medical Board will revoke her license. When Gurney seeks her out for treatment after being shot, it could be the break Nelson needs. Now she has a chance to use her medical know-how to outwit Gurney and his goons and reestablish her professional reputation.
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Devil's Island
Title: Devil's Island
Character: Col. Armand Lucien
Released: January 7, 1939
Type: Movie
A French doctor sentenced for treason performs brain surgery on the prison commandant's daughter.
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Heart of the North
Title: Heart of the North
Character: Stephen Gore
Released: December 10, 1938
Type: Movie
A two-fisted Canadian Mountie leads lawmen in pursuit of the thieves who stole an Edmonton-bound freighter's cargo.
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Nancy Drew… Detective
Title: Nancy Drew… Detective
Character: Challon
Released: November 19, 1938
Type: Movie
After a wealthy dowager who has made a substantial donation to her alma mater suddenly disappears, Nancy Drew sets out to solve the mystery.
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Boy Meets Girl
Title: Boy Meets Girl
Character: Major Thompson
Released: August 27, 1938
Type: Movie
Two lazy screenwriters need a story for the studio's cowboy star. A studio waitress turns out to be pregnant. This gives them the idea for a movie about a cowboy and a baby. The waitress's baby becomes the star. The cowboy and his agent run off with the waitress and her valuable asset. The writers retaliate by hiring an unemployed extra to impersonate the baby's father. But the extra already knows the waitress...
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Cowboy from Brooklyn
Title: Cowboy from Brooklyn
Character: Prof. Landis
Released: July 9, 1938
Type: Movie
A singing cowboy turns out to be a tenderfoot.
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White Banners
Title: White Banners
Character: Thomas Bradford
Released: June 23, 1938
Type: Movie
A homeless woman named Hannah drifts into the lives of the kindly Ward family, in a small Indiana town in 1919. Hannah makes herself useful as a cook and housekeeper and stays with the Wards... but her real interest is in meeting their neighbor, teenager Peter Trimble. It turns out that Peter is the son she bore out of wedlock and gave up for adoption, and now Hannah has returned to town to see what sort of young man her son has become.
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When Were You Born
Title: When Were You Born
Character: Phillip Corey
Released: June 18, 1938
Type: Movie
A San Francisco astrologer correctly predicts a ship passenger's death and then helps the police look for the murderer.
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You Live and Learn
Title: You Live and Learn
Character: Sam Brooks
Released: September 1, 1937
Type: Movie
American chorus-girl Mamie Wallace (Farrell) travels to Paris with a ramshackle touring musical revue. The company runs out of money, and it looks as though Mamie and her dancing colleagues are going to be stranded in Europe with no way home. Luckily, she meets a handsome, well-spoken Englishman Peter Millett (Hulbert), who falls in love with her and proposes marriage. Under the impression that he is a man of means, she readily accepts, imagining an entrée to English high society. The couple return to England and Mamie discovers to her horror that not only is her new home a decrepit farmhouse out in the sticks, but that Peter is a widower and his three children also come as part of the package.