1. Travers John Heagerty, known professionally as Henry Travers, was an English film and stage character actor who specialised in portraying slightly bumbling but amiable and likeable older men.
22 Facts About Henry Travers
1. 2.
Henry Travers's best known role was the guardian angel Clarence Odbody in the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life.
3.
Henry Travers received an Academy Award nomination for his supporting role in Mrs Miniver.
4.
Henry Travers was previously married to William H Belcher, a merchant seaman.
5.
Henry Travers had a half-brother, Samuel William Belcher, by his mother's previous marriage.
6.
Henry Travers had a brother, Daniel George Belsaigne Heagerty, and a sister, Mary Sophia Maude Heagerty.
7.
Henry Travers grew up in Berwick-upon-Tweed, and many biographies wrongly report him as being born there.
8.
The Henry Travers family lived in Prudhoe for a couple of years before moving from Woodburn, on the A68 road near Corsenside, Northumberland, in about 1866, to Tweedmouth, Berwick-upon-Tweed, in about 1876.
9.
Henry Travers gained early experience acting in repertory theatre in England.
10.
Henry Travers was billed as Travers Heagerty for a December 1895 production.
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Henry Travers played character roles almost from the beginning of his acting career in 1894, often figures who were much older than himself.
12.
Henry Travers made his Broadway debut in The Price of Peace but returned to England.
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Henry Travers settled in the United States and played frequently from November 1917 until December 1938 on Broadway in over 30 plays, and was described in The New Yorker as 'one of the most consistent performers now in the American theatre, and at the same time one of its least appreciated'.
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Henry Travers often portrayed doctors, judges, and fathers of the main figures in supporting roles.
15.
Henry Travers specialized on portraying slightly wry and bumbling but friendly and lovable older men.
16.
Henry Travers appeared with Greer Garson and Ronald Colman in Random Harvest and with Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman in The Bells of St Mary's.
17.
Henry Travers received an Academy Award-nomination as Best Supporting Actor for this appearance.
18.
Henry Travers's best remembered role was as James Stewart's somewhat befuddled but kind-hearted guardian angel Clarence Odbody in Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life.
19.
Henry Travers plays the guardian angel who saves Stewart from committing suicide, and then shows him how wonderful his life really is.
20.
Henry Travers retired in 1949 after his supporting role in The Girl from Jones Beach.
21.
Henry Travers is interred with his second wife in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
22.
The Maltings Theatre in Berwick-upon-Tweed has a performance space, The Henry Travers Studio, named after him.