Person Details

Birthday: 1904-04-23 05:51:33

Death: 1990-10-19 05:51:33

Aliases: Horace Raymond Huntley

Gender: Male

Place of birth: Birmingham, England, UK

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 42

TV Involvements: 7


Most Famous Work

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. 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)[5] 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.

Most Famous Work

Upstairs, Downstairs
Average
8

Upstairs, Downstairs

(1971) Sir Geoffrey Dillon
Breathless
Average
8

Breathless

(1960) A Journalist (uncredited)
The Dam Busters
Average
7

The Dam Busters

(1955) Official, National Physical Laboratory
The Mummy
Average
7

The Mummy

(1959) Joseph Whemple
Room at the Top
Average
7

Room at the Top

(1959) Mr. Hoylake
Interpol Calling
Average
6

Interpol Calling

(1959) Schroeder
Gideon's Way
Average
7

Gideon's Way

(1965) Sir Percy Richmond
Justice
Average
6

Justice

(1971) High Court Judge

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
1984 Old Englishman
Judge
1975 N/A
1974 Burke
1972 Emmanuel Holroyd
Mr. Justice Downes
1971 Sir Geoffrey Dillon
N/A
Judge
High Court Judge
1970 N/A
1969 Supt. Pode
George Payne
Smithers
1968 John Naylor
Bayswater
1966 Sir Horace, the Minister
1965 Governor
Sir Percy Richmond
1964 Colonel John Wentworth
Mr Wedgewood
1963 Harry Haliburton
Vicar Walcott
1962 Sir Ronald Ackroyd
Ackroyd
Wagstaffe
Vernon
1961 Doctor Dee
1960 Judge Slender
Sir George Gatting the Minister of Defense
N/A
Bossom
Reverend Edwin Peake
Inspector Pape
N/A
Garrick-Jones
A Journalist (uncredited)
General
1959 N/A
Schroeder
Magistrate
Joseph Whemple
Harold Phillips
Foreign Secretary Tufton-Slade
Mr. Hoylake
1958 Hector Crawford
Forbes, Factory Supervisor
1957 N/A
Dr. Reese
Tatlock Q.C.
1956 Sir Gregory Upshott
Attorney General
N/A
N/A
1955 Olympic Selector
Capt. Beamish
Official, National Physical Laboratory
J.F. Hassett
The General
1954 Rev. Maurice Hilton
Maurice Miller
Col. Fred Bellamy
Nathaniel Beenstock
1953 Patterson
Tom Forester
Samuel Pettigrew, M.P.
1952 Clive Oliver
1951 Councillor Albert Parker
Wright
Mr. Throstle
Chief Inspector Sullivan
1950 Mr. Henry Chester
1949 Mr. Wix
1948 Williams
Moy-Thompson
Henry Courtney
Edward Marshall
1946 Prof. Laxton-Jones
J. Miller
1944 Malcolm Stritton
Pvt. Herbert Davenport
1943 Albert Parker
Barrington
1942 N/A
1941 Marx
Dr. Kerbishley
John Price
Mr Humphries
Rabenau
1940 Kampenfeldt
1939 Singer in trio (uncredited)
1938 Councillor Albert Parker
1937 Gibout
White Officer
Policeman Outside Nightclub
1936 Ludwick
Langer
1935 Dolan
1934 N/A
Mr. Gaunt
Year Character Movie/Tv

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