- Born
- Died
- Birth nameTravers John Heagerty
- Height5′ 4½″ (1.64 m)
- British-born Henry Travers was a veteran of the English stage before emigrating to the U.S. in 1917. He gained more stage experience there on Broadway working with the Theatre Guild, and began his long film career with Reunion in Vienna (1933). Travers' kindly, grandfatherly demeanor became familiar to filmgoers over the next 25 years, especially in films like High Sierra (1940), where he played Joan Leslie's kindly but slyly observant uncle, and the generous Mr. Bogardus in The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), but it's as the somewhat befuddled angel Clarence Oddbody assigned to James Stewart in the classic It's a Wonderful Life (1946) that Travers will forever be known. After a long and successful career, he retired from the screen in 1949, and died in Hollywood in 1965.- IMDb Mini Biography By: frankfob2@yahoo.com
- SpousesAnn (Glud) Courtland Murphy(1955 - October 18, 1965) (his death)Amy Rosina Wilson(January 20, 1926 - February 23, 1954) (her death)
- ParentsDaniel HeagertyEllen Gillman Hornibrook Belcher
- RelativesRob Wagner(Cousin)
- Fondly remembered as Clarence, James Stewart's guardian angel ("angel second class"), in Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (1946).
- Interred at Forest Lawn, Glendale, California, USA, in the Great Mausoleum, Holly Terrace entrance, Hall of Inspiration, directly across from W.C. Fields.
- Active on Broadway from 1901-1938 (early in his career credited as Travers Heagerty, his birth name).
- Henry Travers' two cousins on his mother's side of the family, Thomas H. Hornibrook and his son Samuel W. Hornibrook, were killed by the Irish Republican Army on April 27, 1922, in County Cork, Ireland, during an anti-Protestant campaign to punish suspected informers. There was no evidence the two men were informers. Their bodies were never recovered.
- Appears in seven Oscar Best Picture nominees: Dark Victory (1939), Mrs. Miniver (1942), Random Harvest (1942), Madame Curie (1943), The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), The Yearling (1946) and It's a Wonderful Life (1946), with Mrs. Miniver being the only winner.
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