Classic Film Club

Awards

AWARDS

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

OSCAR NOMINEE

The Letter

  • Oscar iconActor in a
  • Supporting Role
The Letter
  • The Letter
  • 1940
  • Drama

JAMES STEPHENSON

James Stephenson

James Stephenson (1940)
  • © MCMXL BY WARNER BROS. PICTURES, INC.
  • (James Stephenson in The Letter, 1940)© Warner Bros.

Biography

BIO

James Stephenson was born in Selby, Yorkshire, England, in 1889. His parents were druggists.

A stage actor, he made his British film debut in 1937, at the age of 49, for Warner Brothers-First National Productions.   Warner Brothers signed him and brought him to Hollywood in 1938.

Although his film career only lasted 4 years, Stephenson appeared in more than 35 feature films.

He was nominated for an Actor Academy Award for his performance in The Letter (1940) opposite Bette Davis.   His last film role was in 1941.

His wife was Lorna Anderson.

Stephenson died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, in 1941.   He was 52 years old.


Additional biographical information is available at:

Films

NOTED FILMS

Beau Geste

Beau Geste
  • Beau Geste
  • 1939
  • After falling under the suspicion of stealing their adopted aunt’s diamond, three brothers join the Foreign Legion and end up fighting for their lives in the vast deserts of North Africa.

The Old Maid

The Old Maid
  • The Old Maid
  • 1939
  • A woman feels she must keep a secret from society and where she once put her own desires first, she tries to instead bury them. Edmund Goulding directs Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins.

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
  • The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
  • 1939
  • It’s the late 16th century and England’s Queen Elizabeth and her lover, a much younger Lord of Essex, try to negotiate the shoals of jealously, ambition and desire while surrounded by advisors that see him as a competitor for the throne and plot his destruction.

The Letter

The Letter
  • The Letter
  • 1940

  • Bette Davis stars as a plantation wife who murders her lover.

    Directed by William Wyler.

Complete filmography at: