20 Facts About Henry Wilcoxon

Henry Wilcoxon was known as an actor in many of director Cecil B DeMille's films, serving as DeMille's associate producer on his later films.

Henry Wilcoxon's father was English-born Robert Stanley 'Tan' Wilcoxon, manager of the Colonial Bank in Jamaica and his mother, Lurline Mignonette Nunes, was a Jamaican amateur theatre actress, descendant of a wealthy Spanish merchant family.

Henry Wilcoxon's mother "disappeared suddenly and mysteriously" when he was about a year old, and his father took him and Owen to England with the intention that his own mother, Ann Wilcoxon, would care for them.

In 1931, Henry Wilcoxon made his screen debut as "Larry Tindale" in The Perfect Lady, followed by a role opposite Heather Angel in Self Made Lady, alongside Louis Hayward and others.

Henry Wilcoxon was next given the lead role of Richard the Lionheart in DeMille's big-budget film The Crusades opposite Loretta Young.

In 1941, Henry Wilcoxon appeared as Captain Hardy, alongside Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, in Alexander Korda's Lady Hamilton, during the filming of which:.

Henry Wilcoxon, standing right beside him, tried to extinguish the blaze but was unsuccessful.

Henry Wilcoxon, meanwhile, had returned to England under contract to feature in The Miniver Story, a sequel to the multi-Oscar-winning Mrs Miniver in which he reprised his role as the vicar.

Henry Wilcoxon played a "small but important part" in DeMille's 1952 production The Greatest Show on Earth, on which film he served as associate producer, helping steer the film towards its Academy Award for Best Picture, 1952.

Henry Wilcoxon acted as associate producer on, and acted in DeMille's remake of his own The Ten Commandments.

Henry Wilcoxon was sole producer on the 1958 film The Buccaneer, a remake of DeMille's 1938 effort, which DeMille only "supervised" while Anthony Quinn directed.

Henry Wilcoxon was credited as co-producer on a "90-minute tribute to Cecil B DeMille televised by NBC" entitled The World's Greatest Showman: The Legend of Cecil B DeMille, whose production was hampered by the absence of "some of DeMille's best-remembered films of the 30s and 40s" when rights-holder MCA refused their use.

Henry Wilcoxon is probably best known today for his small but memorable role as the golf-obsessed Bishop Pickering in the classic 1980 comedy Caddyshack.

English-born actress Heather Angel, whom he had previously acted with in Self Made Lady when they were both in England, had come to Hollywood a few months before Henry Wilcoxon and met him again in 1934.

Henry Wilcoxon taught him horse-riding, and acted in two more films with him: The Last of the Mohicans and Lady Hamilton.

Henry Wilcoxon married a 19-year-old actress Sheila Garrett on 28 June 1936, but they divorced a year later.

Henry Wilcoxon was an amateur painter and photographer, whose work was exhibited on at least one occasion in London.

At his home in Burbank in the summer of 1975 Henry Wilcoxon first met his niece Valerie, the English daughter of his brother Owen with Dorothy Drew.

Henry Wilcoxon died on March 6,1984 in Los Angeles, at the age of 78, after suffering from cancer for a number of years.

Henry Wilcoxon has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6256 Hollywood Blvd.