James Stephenson
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)
The Letter
as Howard JoyceAfter a woman shoots a man to death, a damning letter she wrote raises suspicions.
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The Sea Hawk
as AbbottDashing pirate Geoffrey Thorpe plunders Spanish ships for Queen Elizabeth I and falls in love...
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The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
as Sir Thomas EgertonThis period drama frames the tumultuous affair between Queen Elizabeth I and the man who would...
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King of the Underworld
as Bill StevensPhysician Carole Nelson, suspected of having ties to notorious gangster Joe Gurney, must prove...
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Confessions of a Nazi Spy
as British Military Intelligence AgentFBI agent Ed Renard investigates the pre-War espionage activities of the German-American Bund.
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Beau Geste
as Major Henri de BeaujolaisWhen three brothers join the Foreign Legion to escape a troubled past, they find themselves...
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When Were You Born
as Phillip CoreyA San Francisco astrologer correctly predicts a ship passenger's death and then helps the police...
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Flight from Destiny
as Dr. Lawrence 'Larry' StevensAfter his doctor informs him he will die in six months, Professor Henry Todhunter decides to...
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Torchy Blane in Chinatown
as Dr. MansfieldTorchy Blane joins her police-detective fiance to solve a series of murders involving a set of...
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Calling Philo Vance
as Philo VancePhilo is in Vienna working for the US Government to see if Archer Coe is selling aircraft...
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Heart of the North
as Stephen GoreA two-fisted Canadian Mountie leads lawmen in pursuit of the thieves who stole an Edmonton-bound...
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Cowboy from Brooklyn
as Prof. LandisA singing cowboy turns out to be a tenderfoot.
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International Squadron
as Squadron Leader Charles WyattThe true story of the exploits of the RAF's (Royal Air Force) foreign legion battling the German...
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The Monroe Doctrine
as Senor De La TorreThe story of President Monroe's response to attempts by Spain to interfere in South America.
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White Banners
as Thomas BradfordA homeless woman named Hannah drifts into the lives of the kindly Ward family, in a small...
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The Old Maid
as Jim RalstonThe lives of two cousins are complicated by the return of an ex-boyfriend and an illegitimate child.
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Secret Service of the Air
as Jim CameronBrass Bancroft and his sidekick Gabby Watters are recruited onto the secret service and go...
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We Are Not Alone
as Sir William ClintockA British doctor and his son's Austrian governess have an affair and are accused of killing his...
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Espionage Agent
as Dr. Anton RaderWhen Barry Corvall discovers that his new bride is a possible enemy agent, he resigns from the...
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South of Suez
as Inspector ThorntonGreedy diamond mine owner Eli Snedeker, resentful that his ex-foreman John Gamble stopped him...
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The Adventures of Jane Arden
as Dr. George VandersReporter Jane Arden goes undercover to try to expose a gang of jewel thieves and smugglers. Her...
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Nancy Drew… Detective
as ChallonAfter a wealthy dowager who has made a substantial donation to her alma mater suddenly...
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Devil's Island
as Col. Armand LucienA French doctor sentenced for treason performs brain surgery on the prison commandant's daughter.
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Boy Meets Girl
as Major ThompsonTwo lazy screenwriters need a story for the studio's cowboy star. A studio waitress turns out to...
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Murder in the Air
as Joe GarveyEnemy agents are everywhere and they are sabotaging all important war deliveries. The body of a...
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On Trial
as Gerald TraskAn ambitious attorney (Edward Norris) tries to prove a man (John Litel) who killed to protect...
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Shining Victory
as Dr. Paul VennerIn a Scottish sanitarium, a brilliant research psychiatrist works on a treatment for dementia...
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A Dispatch from Reuters
as CarewGerman Julius Reuter sends 19th-century news by carrier pigeon and then by wire, founding a news...
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River's End
as McDowellAn escaped criminal pretends to be a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in order to...
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Sons of Liberty
as Colonel TillmanSet during the American Revolution, this colorful 2 reel short tells the story of Haym Salomon,...
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Wanted by Scotland Yard
as FingersA safecracker, just released from prison, falls in love with a young woman who wants him to go...
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