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.
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.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0403171
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1755953
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Filmography (Movies)
Sleepwalker
Character:Old Englishman
Release Date:05/07/1984
A Voyage Round My Father
Character:Judge
Release Date:19/04/1984
The Portland Millions
Character:Dr. Tristram
Release Date:17/09/1976
Symptoms
Character:Burke
Release Date:10/05/1974
That's Your Funeral
Character:Emmanuel Holroyd
Release Date:01/12/1972
Young Winston
Character:Old Officer
Release Date:20/07/1972
Destiny of a Spy
Character:Supt. Pode
Release Date:27/10/1969
Arthur? Arthur!
Character:George Payne
Release Date:01/10/1969
The Adding Machine
Character:Smithers
Release Date:23/09/1969
Hostile Witness
Character:John Naylor
Release Date:01/11/1968
Hot Millions
Character:Bayswater
Release Date:19/09/1968
The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery
Character:Sir Horace, the Minister
Release Date:11/03/1966
Rotten to the Core
Character:Governor
Release Date:14/07/1965
The Black Torment
Character:Colonel John Wentworth
Release Date:19/10/1964
Father Came Too!
Character:Mr. Wedgewood
Release Date:11/02/1964
The Yellow Teddy Bears
Character:Harry Haliburton
Release Date:01/07/1963
Nurse on Wheels
Character:Vicar Walcott
Release Date:03/01/1963
On the Beat
Character:Sir Ronald Ackroyd
Release Date:11/12/1962
Waltz of the Toreadors
Character:Ackroyd
Release Date:12/04/1962
Crooks Anonymous
Character:Mr. Wagstaffe
Release Date:31/03/1962
Only Two Can Play
Character:Vernon
Release Date:19/01/1962
The Pure Hell of St. Trinian's
Character:Judge Slender
Release Date:22/12/1960
Suspect
Character:Sir George Gatting the Minister of Defense
Release Date:15/11/1960
Sands of the Desert
Character:Bossom
Release Date:08/09/1960
A French Mistress
Character:Reverend Edwin Peake
Release Date:25/08/1960
Make Mine Mink
Character:Inspector Pape
Release Date:09/08/1960
Follow That Horse!
Character:
Release Date:11/07/1960
Bottoms Up!
Character:Garrick-Jones
Release Date:25/03/1960
Breathless
Character:A Journalist (uncredited)
Release Date:16/03/1960
Our Man in Havana
Character:General
Release Date:27/01/1960
I'm All Right Jack
Character:Magistrate
Release Date:18/08/1959
The Mummy
Character:Joseph Whemple
Release Date:01/08/1959
Innocent Meeting
Character:Harold Phillips
Release Date:01/04/1959
Carlton-Browne of the F.O.
Character:Foreign Secretary Tufton-Slade
Release Date:10/03/1959
Room at the Top
Character:Mr. Hoylake
Release Date:29/12/1958
The Criminals
Character:Hector Crawford
Release Date:28/12/1958
Next to No Time
Character:Forbes, Factory Supervisor
Release Date:04/08/1958
Brothers in Law
Character:Tatlock Q.C.
Release Date:04/03/1957
Town on Trial
Character:Dr. Reese
Release Date:24/01/1957
The Green Man
Character:Sir Gregory Upshott
Release Date:21/12/1956
The Last Man to Hang
Character:Attorney General
Release Date:01/08/1956
Geordie
Character:Olympic Selector
Release Date:02/09/1955
Doctor at Sea
Character:Captain Beamish
Release Date:12/07/1955
The Dam Busters
Character:Official, National Physical Laboratory
Release Date:16/05/1955
The Constant Husband
Character:J.F. Hassett
Release Date:21/04/1955
The Prisoner
Character:The General
Release Date:19/04/1955
Aunt Clara
Character:Rev. Maurice Hilton
Release Date:22/11/1954
The Teckman Mystery
Character:Maurice Miller
Release Date:27/10/1954
Orders Are Orders
Character:Col. Fred Bellamy
Release Date:01/10/1954
Hobson's Choice
Character:Nathaniel Beenstock
Release Date:19/04/1954
Meet Mr. Lucifer
Character:Patterson
Release Date:30/11/1953
Glad Tidings
Character:Tom Forester
Release Date:13/06/1953
Laxdale Hall
Character:Samuel Pettigrew, M.P.
Release Date:01/04/1953
The Last Page
Character:Clive Oliver
Release Date:25/01/1952
When We Are Married
Character:Councillor Albert Parker
Release Date:25/12/1951
Mr. Denning Drives North
Character:Wright
Release Date:18/12/1951
The House in the Square
Character:Mr. Throstle
Release Date:07/12/1951
The Long Dark Hall
Character:Chief Inspector Sullivan
Release Date:06/02/1951
Trio
Character:Mr. Henry Chester
Release Date:10/10/1950
Passport to Pimlico
Character:Mr. Wix
Release Date:26/10/1949
It's Hard to be Good
Character:Williams
Release Date:10/11/1948
Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill
Character:Moy-Thompson
Release Date:27/09/1948
So Evil My Love
Character:Henry Courtney
Release Date:02/08/1948
Broken Journey
Character:Edward Marshall
Release Date:14/04/1948
School for Secrets
Character:Prof. Laxton-Jones
Release Date:23/12/1946
I See a Dark Stranger
Character:J. Miller
Release Date:04/07/1946
They Came to a City
Character:Malcolm Stritton
Release Date:21/08/1944
The Way Ahead
Character:Pvt. Herbert Davenport
Release Date:09/06/1944
When We Are Married
Character:Albert Parker
Release Date:12/07/1943
The New Lot
Character:Barrington
Release Date:01/01/1943
The Day Will Dawn
Character:
Release Date:08/06/1942
"Pimpernel" Smith
Character:Marx
Release Date:28/07/1941
Inspector Hornleigh Goes to It
Character:Dr. Kerbishley
Release Date:17/05/1941
The Ghost Train
Character:John Price
Release Date:05/05/1941
The Ghost of St. Michael's
Character:Mr Humphries
Release Date:04/02/1941
Freedom Radio
Character:Rabenau
Release Date:04/02/1941
Night Train to Munich
Character:Kampenfeldt
Release Date:31/08/1940
Let's Be Famous
Character:Singer in trio (uncredited)
Release Date:22/03/1939
When We Are Married
Character:Councillor Albert Parker
Release Date:16/11/1938
Dinner at the Ritz
Character:Gibout
Release Date:26/11/1937
Knight Without Armour
Character:White Officer
Release Date:23/07/1937
London Melody
Character:Policeman Outside Nightclub
Release Date:04/02/1937
Rembrandt
Character:Ludwick
Release Date:06/11/1936
Whom the Gods Love: The Original Story of Mozart and His Wife
Character:Langer
Release Date:22/02/1936
Can You Hear Me, Mother?
Character:Dolan
Release Date:02/12/1935
What Happened Then?
Character:
Release Date:24/09/1934
Television Appearances
Brass
Character:Judge
Victorian Scandals
Character:Dr. Tristram
My Honourable Mrs
Character:
Crown Court
Character:Mr. Justice Downes
Upstairs, Downstairs
Character:Sir Geoffrey Dillon
Justice
Character:Judge
Justice
Character:High Court Judge
That's Your Funeral
Character:
Gideon's Way
Character:Sir Percy Richmond
Sir Francis Drake
Character:Doctor Dee
Barnaby Rudge
Character:
No Hiding Place
Character:
Interpol Calling
Character:Schroeder
A Time Of Day
Character:
Hancock's Half Hour
Character:
The Count of Monte Cristo
Character:
Images
