Raymond Huntley
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.
Photos
Movies (88)
Sleepwalker
1984 · Old Englishman
A Voyage Round My Father
1984 · Judge
The Portland Millions
1976 · Dr. Tristram
Symptoms
1974 · Burke
That's Your Funeral
1972 · Emmanuel Holroyd
Young Winston
1972 · Old Officer
Destiny of a Spy
1969 · Supt. Pode
Arthur? Arthur!
1969 · George Payne
The Adding Machine
1969 · Smithers
Hostile Witness
1968 · John Naylor
Hot Millions
1968 · Bayswater
The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery
1966 · Sir Horace, the Minister
Rotten to the Core
1965 · Governor
The Black Torment
1964 · Colonel John Wentworth
Father Came Too!
1964 · Mr. Wedgewood
The Yellow Teddy Bears
1963 · Harry Haliburton
Nurse on Wheels
1963 · Vicar Walcott
On the Beat
1962 · Sir Ronald Ackroyd
Waltz of the Toreadors
1962 · Ackroyd
Crooks Anonymous
1962 · Mr. Wagstaffe
Only Two Can Play
1962 · Vernon
Tune On the Old Tax Fiddle
1961 · Mr. Gaunt
The Pure Hell of St Trinian's
1960 · Judge Slender
Suspect
1960 · Sir George Gatting the Minister of Defense
Sands of the Desert
1960 · Bossom
A French Mistress
1960 · Reverend Edwin Peake
Make Mine Mink
1960 · Inspector Pape
Follow That Horse!
1960
Bottoms Up!
1960 · Garrick-Jones
Breathless
1960 · A Journalist (uncredited)
Our Man in Havana
1960 · General
I'm All Right Jack
1959 · Magistrate
The Mummy
1959 · Joseph Whemple
Innocent Meeting
1959 · Harold Phillips
Carlton-Browne of the F.O.
1959 · Foreign Secretary Tufton-Slade
Room at the Top
1958 · Mr. Hoylake
The Criminals
1958 · Hector Crawford
Next to No Time
1958 · Forbes, Factory Supervisor
Brothers in Law
1957 · Tatlock Q.C.
Town on Trial
1957 · Dr. Reese
The Green Man
1956 · Sir Gregory Upshott
The Last Man to Hang
1956 · Attorney General
Geordie
1955 · Olympic Selector
Doctor at Sea
1955 · Captain Beamish
The Dam Busters
1955 · Official, National Physical Laboratory
The Constant Husband
1955 · J.F. Hassett
The Prisoner
1955 · The General
Aunt Clara
1954 · Rev. Maurice Hilton
The Teckman Mystery
1954 · Maurice Miller
Orders Are Orders
1954 · Col. Fred Bellamy
Hobson's Choice
1954 · Nathaniel Beenstock
Meet Mr. Lucifer
1953 · Patterson
Glad Tidings
1953 · Tom Forester
Laxdale Hall
1953 · Samuel Pettigrew, M.P.
Number Three
1953 · Prof. Brander
Man Bait
1952 · Clive Oliver
When We Are Married
1951 · Councillor Albert Parker
Mr. Denning Drives North
1951 · Wright
The House in the Square
1951 · Mr. Throstle
The Long Dark Hall
1951 · Chief Inspector Sullivan
Trio
1950 · Mr. Henry Chester
Passport to Pimlico
1949 · Mr. Wix
It's Hard to be Good
1948 · Williams
Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill
1948 · Moy-Thompson
So Evil My Love
1948 · Henry Courtney
Broken Journey
1948 · Edward Marshall
School for Secrets
1946 · Prof. Laxton-Jones
I See a Dark Stranger
1946 · J. Miller
They Came to a City
1944 · Malcolm Stritton
The Way Ahead
1944 · Pvt. Herbert Davenport
When We Are Married
1943 · Albert Parker
The New Lot
1943 · Barrington
The Day Will Dawn
1942
"Pimpernel" Smith
1941 · Marx
Inspector Hornleigh Goes to It
1941 · Dr. Kerbishley
The Ghost Train
1941 · John Price
The Ghost of St. Michael's
1941 · Mr Humphries
Freedom Radio
1941 · Rabenau
Night Train to Munich
1940 · Kampenfeldt
Let's Be Famous
1939 · Singer in trio (uncredited)
When We Are Married
1938 · Councillor Albert Parker
Dinner at the Ritz
1937 · Gibout
Knight Without Armour
1937 · White Officer
London Melody
1937 · Policeman Outside Nightclub
Rembrandt
1936 · Ludwick
Whom the Gods Love: The Original Story of Mozart and His Wife
1936 · Langer
Can You Hear Me, Mother?
1935 · Dolan
What Happened Then?
1934
TV shows (31)
Brass
1983 · Judge
The Square Leopard
1980 · Henry Parish
Victorian Scandals
1976 · Dr Tristram
My Honourable Mrs
1975 · Professor Walter Ramsay
Crown Court
1972 · Mr. Justice Downes, Mr. Justice Ambleforth
Sykes
1972 · Mr. Gatwick
Upstairs, Downstairs
1971 · Sir Geoffrey Dillon
Justice
1971 · Judge, High Court Judge
That's Your Funeral
1970 · Emanuel Holroyd
Softly Softly: Task Force
1969 · Doctor Mancroft
Who-Dun-It
1969 · Inspector Elvin
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
1969 · Alderman Tindal
Omnibus
1967 · Self
A Man Called Harry Brent
1965 · Sir Gordon Town
Gideon's Way
1965 · Sir Percy Richmond
The Wednesday Play
1964 · Superintendent Willow, Dr. Hallam Aitkinson
Steptoe and Son
1962 · Psychiatrist
Sir Francis Drake
1961 · Doctor Dee
Barnaby Rudge
1960 · Mr. John Chester
Sunday-Night Play
1960 · The Reader, Sir Edward Moss, Sir Arthur Hopwood-Lane, Herbert Nodes, Gilbert Morris
Danger Man
1960 · Clements
On Trial
1960 · Travers Humphreys
Knight Errant Limited
1959 · Dr. Felthorpe, Henry Latto
No Hiding Place
1959 · Ward
Interpol Calling
1959 · Schroeder
A Time Of Day
1957
Theatre Night
1957 · Sir Norman Tullis, Dr. Rodd
Armchair Theatre
1956 · Sturdee, Carlo, Hector Crawford, Mr. Gaunt
Hancock's Half Hour
1956 · Doctor
The Count of Monte Cristo
1956 · Reimer
Sunday Night Theatre
1950 · Mr. Culver, Crichton, Spence, Inspector Hubbard, Prof. Brander, Gordon Meslin, Challiss, Manning, Lord Laithwaite