1904-04-23 King's Norton, Worcestershire, England, UK
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.
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Sleepwalker | Old Englishman | 1984-07-05 |
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A Voyage Round My Father | Judge | 1984-04-19 |
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The Portland Millions | Dr. Tristram | 1976-09-17 |
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Symptoms | Burke | 1974-05-10 |
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That's Your Funeral | Emmanuel Holroyd | 1972-12-01 |
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Young Winston | Old Officer | 1972-07-20 |
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Arthur? Arthur! | George Payne | 1969-10-01 |
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The Adding Machine | Smithers | 1969-09-23 |
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Destiny of a Spy | Supt. Pode | 1969-10-27 |
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Hostile Witness | John Naylor | 1968-11-01 |
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Hot Millions | Bayswater | 1968-09-19 |
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The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery | Sir Horace, the Minister | 1966-03-11 |
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Rotten to the Core | Governor | 1965-07-14 |
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Father Came Too! | Mr Wedgewood | 1964-02-11 |
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The Black Torment | Colonel John Wentworth | 1964-10-19 |
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The Yellow Teddy Bears | Harry Haliburton | 1963-07-01 |
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Nurse on Wheels | Vicar Walcott | 1963-01-03 |
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Crooks Anonymous | Wagstaffe | 1962-03-31 |
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On the Beat | Sir Ronald Ackroyd | 1962-12-11 |
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Waltz of the Toreadors | Ackroyd | 1962-04-12 |
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Only Two Can Play | Vernon | 1962-01-19 |
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Make Mine Mink | Inspector Pape | 1960-08-09 |
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Sands of the Desert | Bossom | 1960-09-08 |
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Bottoms Up! | Garrick-Jones | 1960-03-25 |
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Follow That Horse! | 1960-07-11 | |
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Suspect | Sir George Gatting the Minister of Defense | 1960-11-15 |
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The Pure Hell of St. Trinian's | Judge Slender | 1960-12-22 |
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Our Man in Havana | General | 1960-01-27 |
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À bout de souffle | A Journalist (uncredited) | 1960-03-16 |
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A French Mistress | Reverend Edwin Peake | 1960-08-25 |
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Carlton-Browne of the F.O. | Foreign Secretary Tufton-Slade | 1959-03-10 |
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I'm All Right Jack | Magistrate | 1959-08-18 |
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Innocent Meeting | Harold Phillips | 1959-04-01 |
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The Mummy | Joseph Whemple | 1959-08-01 |
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Next to No Time | Forbes, Factory Supervisor | 1958-08-04 |
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The Criminals | Hector Crawford | 1958-12-28 |
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Room at the Top | Mr. Hoylake | 1958-12-29 |
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Brothers in Law | Tatlock Q.C. | 1957-03-04 |
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Town on Trial | Dr. Reese | 1957-01-24 |
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The Last Man to Hang | Attorney General | 1956-08-01 |
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The Green Man | Sir Gregory Upshott | 1956-12-21 |
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Geordie | Olympic Selector | 1955-09-02 |
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Doctor at Sea | Capt. Beamish | 1955-07-12 |
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The Prisoner | The General | 1955-04-19 |
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The Constant Husband | J.F. Hassett | 1955-04-21 |
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The Dam Busters | Official, National Physical Laboratory | 1955-05-16 |
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Aunt Clara | Rev. Maurice Hilton | 1954-11-22 |
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Hobson's Choice | Nathaniel Beenstock | 1954-04-19 |
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The Teckman Mystery | Maurice Miller | 1954-10-27 |
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Orders Are Orders | Col. Fred Bellamy | 1954-10-01 |
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Laxdale Hall | Samuel Pettigrew, M.P. | 1953-04-01 |
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Meet Mr. Lucifer | Patterson | 1953-11-30 |
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Glad Tidings | Tom Forester | 1953-06-13 |
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The Last Page | Clive Oliver | 1952-01-25 |
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Mr. Denning Drives North | Wright | 1951-12-18 |
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The Long Dark Hall | Chief Inspector Sullivan | 1951-02-06 |
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The House in the Square | Mr. Throstle | 1951-12-07 |
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When We Are Married | Councillor Albert Parker | 1951-12-25 |
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Trio | Mr. Henry Chester | 1950-10-10 |
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Passport to Pimlico | Mr. Wix | 1949-10-26 |
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Broken Journey | Edward Marshall | 1948-04-14 |
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It's Hard to be Good | Williams | 1948-11-10 |
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So Evil My Love | Henry Courtney | 1948-08-02 |
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Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill | Moy-Thompson | 1948-09-27 |
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School for Secrets | Prof. Laxton-Jones | 1946-12-23 |
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I See a Dark Stranger | J. Miller | 1946-07-04 |
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They Came to a City | Malcolm Stritton | 1944-08-21 |
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The Way Ahead | Pvt. Herbert Davenport | 1944-06-09 |
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When We Are Married | Albert Parker | 1943-07-12 |
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The New Lot | Barrington | 1943-01-01 |
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The Day Will Dawn | 1942-06-08 | |
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Freedom Radio | Rabenau | 1941-02-04 |
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Inspector Hornleigh Goes to It | Dr. Kerbishley | 1941-05-17 |
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'Pimpernel' Smith | Marx | 1941-07-28 |
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The Ghost Train | John Price | 1941-05-05 |
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The Ghost of St. Michael's | Mr Humphries | 1941-04-01 |
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Night Train to Munich | Kampenfeldt | 1940-08-31 |
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Let's Be Famous | Singer in trio (uncredited) | 1939-03-22 |
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When We Are Married | Councillor Albert Parker | 1938-11-16 |
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London Melody | Policeman Outside Nightclub | 1937-02-04 |
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Knight Without Armour | White Officer | 1937-07-23 |
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Dinner at the Ritz | Gibout | 1937-11-26 |
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Rembrandt | Ludwick | 1936-11-06 |
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Whom the Gods Love: The Original Story of Mozart and His Wife | Langer | 1936-02-22 |
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Can You Hear Me, Mother? | Dolan | 1935-12-02 |
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What Happened Then? | 1934-09-24 | |
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Tune On the Old Tax Fiddle | Mr. Gaunt |
