Raymond Huntley

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.

Known For

Mr. Wix

Passport to Pimlico

Judge Slender

The Pure Hell of St. Trinian's

Dr. Reese

Town on Trial

General

Our Man in Havana

J. Miller

I See a Dark Stranger

Magistrate

I'm All Right Jack

Pvt. Herbert Davenport

The Way Ahead

Sir Horace, the Minister

The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery

Foreign Secretary Tufton-Slade

Carlton-Browne of the F.O.

Kampenfeldt

Night Train to Munich

Samuel Pettigrew, M.P.

Laxdale Hall

Mr. Hoylake

Room at the Top

Wright

Mr. Denning Drives North

Inspector Pape

Make Mine Mink

Captain Beamish

Doctor at Sea

Clive Oliver

The Last Page

Henry Courtney

So Evil My Love

Joseph Whemple

The Mummy

Ludwick

Rembrandt

Hector Crawford

The Criminals

Mr. Gaunt

Tune On the Old Tax Fiddle

The General

The Prisoner

Prof. Laxton-Jones

School for Secrets

Vernon

Only Two Can Play

J.F. Hassett

The Constant Husband

Sir Gregory Upshott

The Green Man

Colonel John Wentworth

The Black Torment

Col. Fred Bellamy

Orders Are Orders

John Naylor

Hostile Witness

George Payne

Arthur? Arthur!

Emmanuel Holroyd

That's Your Funeral

Mr Humphries

The Ghost of St. Michael's

Garrick-Jones

Bottoms Up!

Harold Phillips

Innocent Meeting

Edward Marshall

Broken Journey

Maurice Miller

The Teckman Mystery

Malcolm Stritton

They Came to a City

Dr. Kerbishley

Inspector Hornleigh Goes to It

Moy-Thompson

Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill

Bossom

Sands of the Desert

Sir George Gatting the Minister of Defense

Suspect

Sir Ronald Ackroyd

On the Beat

Supt. Pode

Destiny of a Spy

Rabenau

Freedom Radio

Policeman Outside Nightclub

London Melody

Smithers

The Adding Machine

Tom Forester

Glad Tidings

A Journalist (uncredited)

À bout de souffle

Harry Haliburton

The Yellow Teddy Bears

Forbes, Factory Supervisor

Next to No Time

Mr. Throstle

The House in the Square

White Officer

Knight Without Armour

Vicar Walcott

Nurse on Wheels

Old Englishman

Sleepwalker

Nathaniel Beenstock

Hobson's Choice

Follow That Horse!

Langer

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

Barrington

The New Lot

Singer in trio (uncredited)

Let's Be Famous

What Happened Then?

Marx

"Pimpernel" Smith

Olympic Selector

Geordie

John Price

The Ghost Train

Judge

A Voyage Round My Father

Dolan

Can You Hear Me, Mother?

Rev. Maurice Hilton

Aunt Clara

Mr. Henry Chester

Trio

Attorney General

The Last Man to Hang

Official, National Physical Laboratory

The Dam Busters

Chief Inspector Sullivan

The Long Dark Hall

Tatlock Q.C.

Brothers in Law

Mr. Wagstaffe

Crooks Anonymous

Mr. Wedgewood

Father Came Too!

Burke

Symptoms

Governor

Rotten to the Core

The Day Will Dawn

Williams

It's Hard to be Good

Bayswater

Hot Millions

Gibout

Dinner at the Ritz

Ackroyd

Waltz of the Toreadors

Albert Parker

When We Are Married

Councillor Albert Parker

When We Are Married

Councillor Albert Parker

When We Are Married

Patterson

Meet Mr. Lucifer

Reverend Edwin Peake

A French Mistress

Dr. Tristram

The Portland Millions

Old Officer

Young Winston