Raymond Huntley

Acting · 0.8 popularity

Age

122

Movies

Born: April 23, 1904 – October 19, 1990
From: King's Norton, Worcestershire, England, UK

Biography

Horace Raymond Huntley (23 April 1904 – 15 June 1990) was an English actor who appeared in dozens of British films from the 1930s to the 1970s. He also appeared in the ITV period drama Upstairs, Downstairs as the pragmatic family solicitor Sir Geoffrey Dillon, and other television shows, such as the Wodehouse Playhouse, ('Romance at Droitwich Spa'), in 1975. Born in Kings Norton, Worcestershire (now a suburb of Birmingham) in 1904, Huntley made his stage debut at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre on 1 April 1922, in A Woman Killed with Kindness. His London debut followed at the Court Theatre on 22 February 1924, in As Far as Thought can Reach. He subsequently inherited the role of Count Dracula from Edmund Blake in Hamilton Deane's touring adaptation of Dracula, which arrived at London's Little Theatre on 14 February 1927, subsequently transferring to the larger Duke of York's Theatre. Later that year he was offered the chance to reprise the role on Broadway (in a script streamlined by John L. Balderston); when he declined, the part was taken by Bela Lugosi instead. Huntley did, however, appear in a US touring production of the Deane/Balderston play, covering the east coast and midwest, from 1928-30. "I have always considered the role of Count Dracula to have been an indiscretion of my youth" he recalled in 1989. After Dracula, he made his Broadway debut at the Vanderbilt Theatre on 23 February 1931, in The Venetian Glass Nephew. On returning to the UK, his many West End appearances included The Farmer's Wife (Queen's Theatre 1932), Cornelius (Duchess Theatre 1935), Bees on the Boat Deck (Lyric Theatre 1936) Time and the Conways (Duchess Theatre 1937), When We Are Married (St Martin's Theatre 1940), Rebecca (Queen's Theatre 1940; Strand Theatre 1942), They Came to a City (Globe Theatre 1943), The Late Edwina Black (Ambassadors Theatre 1948), And This Was Odd (Criterion Theatre 1951), Double Image (Savoy Theatre 1956), Any Other Business (Westminster Theatre 1958), Caught Napping (Piccadilly Theatre 1959), Difference of Opinion (Garrick Theatre 1963), An Ideal Husband (Garrick Theatre 1966), Getting Married (Strand Theatre 1967), Soldiers (New Theatre 1968) and Separate Tables (Apollo Theatre 1977). He also starred opposite Flora Robson in the Broadway production of Black Chiffon (48th Street Theatre 1950). Often cast as a supercilious bureaucrat or other authority figure, Huntley was also a staple figure in British films, his many appearances including The Way Ahead, I See a Dark Stranger, Passport to Pimlico and The Dam Busters. In his later years, he became well-known on television as Sir Geoffrey Dillon, the family solicitor to the Bellamys in LWT's popular 1970s drama series Upstairs, Downstairs. Huntley died in Westminster Hospital, London in 1990. In his obituary, the New York Times wrote, "During his long career the actor played judges, bank managers, churchmen, bureaucrats and other figures of authority. He could play them straight if necessary, but in comedy his natural dryness of delivery was exaggerated to the point where the character he was playing invited mockery as a pompous humbug." Source: Article "Raymond Huntley" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Works

88 films

Breathless

19607.5

The Mummy

19596.7

The Dam Busters

19556.9

Hot Millions

19686.6

Room at the Top

19586.9

I'm All Right Jack

19596.6

Hobson's Choice

19547.4

Young Winston

19726.2

Our Man in Havana

19606.7

"Pimpernel" Smith

19417.0

Innocent Meeting

19596.7

Night Train to Munich

19407.3

The Green Man

19567.0

Crooks Anonymous

19626.1

Rembrandt

19366.8

Brothers in Law

19577.1

On the Beat

19627.7

Number Three

19539.0

Passport to Pimlico

19496.9

Aunt Clara

19545.0

When We Are Married

195110.0

Carlton-Browne of the F.O.

19596.2

The Way Ahead

19446.6

Doctor at Sea

19555.8

The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery

19666.2

Laxdale Hall

19537.0

The Pure Hell of St Trinian's

19606.5

The Prisoner

19557.2

The Constant Husband

19556.9

That's Your Funeral

19724.3

So Evil My Love

19486.4

Hostile Witness

19686.5

Knight Without Armour

19375.9

Only Two Can Play

19625.9

Sleepwalker

19845.5

Trio

19506.4

I See a Dark Stranger

19466.5

A French Mistress

19606.3

Let's Be Famous

19396.2

Can You Hear Me, Mother?

19359.0

Symptoms

19746.3

Waltz of the Toreadors

19625.0

The Ghost Train

19416.1

Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill

19487.6

The Last Page

19525.9

Make Mine Mink

19606.9

The Long Dark Hall

19516.7

Orders Are Orders

19546.6

School for Secrets

19467.2

Sands of the Desert

19605.6

Rotten to the Core

19656.5

The Ghost of St. Michael's

19416.8

Inspector Hornleigh Goes to It

19417.4

Father Came Too!

19645.9

Meet Mr. Lucifer

19535.2

They Came to a City

19446.2

The Last Man to Hang

19566.3

Suspect

19606.9

Nurse on Wheels

19636.1

The House in the Square

19516.4

The Black Torment

19645.9

Mr. Denning Drives North

19516.4

Broken Journey

19486.1

The Day Will Dawn

19426.0

A Voyage Round My Father

19847.4

The Adding Machine

19696.7

Dinner at the Ritz

19375.8

Geordie

19556.9

Town on Trial

19576.5

The Portland Millions

1976

Tune On the Old Tax Fiddle

1961

The Teckman Mystery

19546.1

Arthur? Arthur!

19693.8

Bottoms Up!

19606.7

Next to No Time

19587.7

London Melody

19377.5

The Criminals

1958

It's Hard to be Good

19486.0

The Yellow Teddy Bears

19635.0

Freedom Radio

19417.0

Whom the Gods Love: The Original Story of Mozart and His Wife

19365.8

Glad Tidings

19536.0

Destiny of a Spy

19699.0

The New Lot

19438.0

Follow That Horse!

196010.0

When We Are Married

19437.0

When We Are Married

193810.0

What Happened Then?

19346.3