Henry Travers

Born in the county of Northumberland in the north of England in the family of a doctor. ^{[1] [2]} Before becoming an actor, he studied for an architect in the city of Berwick . His acting career started in 1894, and from the very beginning he often played characters much older than himself. ^[3] In 1901, Travers made his Broadway debut , but then returned to England, where over the next decade he created himself a successful theatrical career.

In 1917 he again left for the USA, where he continued his successful performances on Broadway, and in 1933 he made his debut on the big screen in the melodrama “Reunion in Vienna”. In the same year, he played Gloria Stewart 's father in the classic horror film The Invisible Man . In subsequent years, his main role on the big screen was slightly awkward, but friendly and sweet old men in such films as “Defeat the Darkness” (1939), “High Sierra” (1941), “With a Light” (1941), “ Shadow of Doubt ” (1943) and Mrs. Miniver (1942), for the role of Mr. Ballard in which the actor was nominated for an Academy Award.

However, his best known role was the good guardian angel Clarence Odbody in Frank Capra 's classic film This Beautiful Life (1946), which saves the hero James Stewart from suicide and shows him how wonderful life really is. Although after the release of the big screens this tape failed at the box office, later it became the main Christmas film in the United States, and every year (since the 1970s) is shown on the country's leading television channels on the eve of the holiday.

The first wife of the actor was actress Amy Forrest-Rhodes (1881-1954), whose marriage lasted until her death in 1954. He soon entered into a second marriage with nurse Ann J. Murphy (1899-1983). In recent years, he and his wife spent in California , where he died of atherosclerosis in 1965 at the age of 91. He was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale .