Britishborn Henry Travers was a veteran of the English stage before emigrating to the US in 1917 He gained more stage experience there on Broadway working with the Theatre Guild and began his long film career with Reunion in Vienna 1933 Travers kindly grandfatherly demeanor became familiar to filmgoers over the next 25 years especially in films like High Sierra 1941 where he played Joan Leslies kindly but slyly observant uncle and the generous Mr Bogardus in The Bells of St Marys 1945 but its as the somewhat befuddled angel Clarence Oddbody assigned to James Stewart in the classic Its a Wonderful Life 1946 that Travers will forever be known After a long and successful career he retired from the screen in 1949 and died in Hollywood in 1965
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