Oscar Profile #75: Henry Travers

Born March 5, 1874 in Northumberland, England, Travers Haggerty who would take the stage name of stage name Henry Travers had a long career on the British stage before coming to America at the turn of the last century.

On Broadway form 1901 to 1938, his stage roles included those of Alfred Dolittle in the 1926 production of Pygmalion; Wang Lung’s father in 1932’s The Good Earth and Grandpa in 1936’s You Can’t Take It With You.

He was third billed behind Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in 1931’s Reunion in Vienna and made his screen debut in the John Barrymore-Diana Wynyard 1933 film version in which he was given the fourth lead which had been played on stage by Minor Watson. Frank Morgan was given Travers’ role.

Travers’ fourth and fifth films were the classics, The Invisible Man and Death Takes a Holiday.

A familiar face on screen throughout the remainder of the decade and through the 1940s, he impressed as Pa in 1941’s High Sierra and as one of the professors in the same year’s Ball of Fire.

In 1942 he played one of his three greatest roles, that of the role of Mr. Ballard, the kindly railroad station agent who names his cultivated rose after Greer Garson’s Mrs. Miniver in the year’s big Oscar winner, for which he received a Best Supporting Actor nomination.

He supported Garson in her next two films, Random Harvest and Madame Curie and was as outstanding in two 1943 films, as the mayor of the besieged village in The Moon Is Down and as Teresa Wright’s father in Shadow of a Doubt.

He had an unforgettable role as Horace P. Bogardus, the millionaire who is charmed by Mother Superior Ingrid Bergman into donating a building to be used by nuns as new school in The Bells of St. Mary’s.

The high point of Travers’ career came as Clarence the angel who comes to Earth to help James Stewart in 1946’s It’s a Wonderful Life.

One would think that after his beloved performances in The Bells of St. Mary’s and It’s a Wonderful Life, Travers would have been in great demand, but sadly he wasn’t, and after a few minor roles he retired in 1949 at the age of 75.

Henry Travers died in 1965 at 91.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

BALL OF FIRE (1941), directed by Billy Wilder

Wilder’s virtual remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs remains one of the best loved comedies of all time. Barbara Stanwyck, was Oscar nominated for her portrayal of chanteuse Sugarbush O’Shea hiding out from both the police and the mob with Gary Cooper and seven other professors holed up together while writing a modern encyclopedia. Much of the acclaim for this delightful screwball comedy goes to the supporting cast which includes Travers along with Oscar Homolka, S.Z. “Cuddles” Sakall and Richard Haydn amongst the professors.

MRS. MINIVER (1942), directed by William Wyler

A huge box office hit, the picturesque England of this propaganda film made to bolster U.S. support for the war in Europe, never really existed but was real enough for the film to emerge as year’s Best Picture Oscar winner. It was the first film to receive five acting nominations which went to Greer Garson in the title role; Walter Pidgeon as her stalwart husband; Teresa Wright as her new daughter-in-law; Dame May Whitty as Wright’s grandmother, the village matriarch and Travers as the railroad station agent whose hobby is growing roses. Garson and Wright won, but Travers and Whitty shine as well, especially in their big scene together.

SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943), directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Said to be Hitchcock’s favorite film, the suspense classic supplies Teresa Wright and Joseph cotton with two of the most iconic roles in Hitchcock’s canon as a bright young lady and the uncle she is named after, who she slowly realizes is a notorious serial killer. Patricia Collinge and Travers play the girl’s unsuspecting parents and Hume Cronyn makes an impressive screen debut as a talkative boarder. The entire cast shines.

THE BELLS OF ST. MARY’S (1945), directed by Leo McCarey

This much loved sequel to McCarey’s Oscar winning Going My Way is that rare sequel that actually improves on the original thanks in no small measure to Ingrid Bergman’s luminous portrayal of Sister Luke, the principal of the dilapidated school, who with Father O’Malley’s (Bing Crosby) help encourages an equally wonderful Henry Travers as a hard-nosed but soft-hearted old millionaire to donate his building next door to the church for a new school. There are other equally memorable story threads in the film, but this is the basic one and Travers is quite delightful as his character undergoes a slow but inevitable transformation over the course of the film.

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946), Directed by Frank Capra

As Clarence, the angel second class, sent to Earth to save small town banker James Stewart from committing suicide, Travers had his most iconic role. As he painstakingly shows Stewart what life would have been like had he not existed, thereby renewing his character’s reason for living, Clarence earns his wings and our hearts with his gentle performance. The film, which is said to be both Capra and Stewart’s favorite, may belong to the director and his star but it wouldn’t be what it is without the superlative work of this marvelous character actor at the zenith of his career at the age of 72.