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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A Voyage Round My Father | Judge | 1984-04-19 |
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Sleepwalker | Old Englishman | 1984-07-05 |
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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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Destiny of a Spy | Supt. Pode | 1969-10-27 |
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The Adding Machine | Smithers | 1969-09-23 |
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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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Nurse on Wheels | Vicar Walcott | 1963-01-03 |
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The Yellow Teddy Bears | Harry Haliburton | 1963-07-01 |
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Waltz of the Toreadors | Ackroyd | 1962-04-12 |
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On the Beat | Sir Ronald Ackroyd | 1962-12-11 |
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Only Two Can Play | Vernon | 1962-01-19 |
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Crooks Anonymous | Mr. Wagstaffe | 1962-03-31 |
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Sands of the Desert | Bossom | 1960-09-08 |
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Make Mine Mink | Inspector Pape | 1960-08-09 |
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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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Bottoms Up! | Garrick-Jones | 1960-03-25 |
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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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A French Mistress | Reverend Edwin Peake | 1960-08-25 |
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À bout de souffle | A Journalist (uncredited) | 1960-03-16 |
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I'm All Right Jack | Magistrate | 1959-08-18 |
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Carlton-Browne of the F.O. | Foreign Secretary Tufton-Slade | 1959-03-10 |
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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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The Criminals | Hector Crawford | 1958-12-28 |
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Next to No Time | Forbes, Factory Supervisor | 1958-08-04 |
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Room at the Top | Mr. Hoylake | 1958-12-29 |
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Town on Trial | Dr. Reese | 1957-01-22 |
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Brothers in Law | Tatlock Q.C. | 1957-03-04 |
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The Green Man | Sir Gregory Upshott | 1956-12-21 |
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The Last Man to Hang | Attorney General | 1956-08-01 |
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Doctor at Sea | Captain Beamish | 1955-07-12 |
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Geordie | Olympic Selector | 1955-09-02 |
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The Dam Busters | Official, National Physical Laboratory | 1955-05-16 |
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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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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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Glad Tidings | Tom Forester | 1953-06-13 |
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Number Three | Prof. Brander | 1953-02-01 |
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Meet Mr. Lucifer | Patterson | 1953-11-30 |
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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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When We Are Married | Councillor Albert Parker | 1951-12-25 |
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The House in the Square | Mr. Throstle | 1951-12-07 |
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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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So Evil My Love | Henry Courtney | 1948-08-02 |
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It's Hard to be Good | Williams | 1948-11-10 |
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Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill | Moy-Thompson | 1948-09-27 |
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Broken Journey | Edward Marshall | 1948-04-14 |
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I See a Dark Stranger | J. Miller | 1946-07-04 |
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School for Secrets | Prof. Laxton-Jones | 1946-12-23 |
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The Way Ahead | Pvt. Herbert Davenport | 1944-06-09 |
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They Came to a City | Malcolm Stritton | 1944-08-21 |
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The New Lot | Barrington | 1943-01-01 |
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When We Are Married | Albert Parker | 1943-07-12 |
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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 | 1941-02-04 |
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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 |
