Travers John Heagerty[1] (5 March 1874[2] – 18 October 1965), known professionally as Henry Travers, was an English film and stage character actor. His best known role was the guardian angel Clarence Odbody in the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life. He also received an Academy Award nomination for his supporting role in Mrs. Miniver (1942). Travers specialised in portraying slightly bumbling but amiable and likeable older men.
Travers was born in Prudhoe, Northumberland, and was the son of Daniel Heagerty,[2] a doctor originally from Ireland, and Ellen Gillman Hornibrook, also a native of Ireland (County Cork). She was previously married to William H. Belcher, a merchant seaman. He died in 1869. Travers had a half-brother, Samuel William Belcher, by his mother's previous marriage. He had a brother, Daniel George Belsaigne Heagerty, and a sister, Mary Sophia Maude Heagerty. Travers grew up in Berwick-upon-Tweed, and many biographies wrongly report him as being born there.[3][4]
The Travers family lived in Prudhoe for a couple of years before moving from Woodburn, on the A68 road near Corsenside, Northumberland, in about 1866, to Tweedmouth, Berwick-upon-Tweed, in about 1876. Initially, he trained as an architect[2] at Berwick, before taking to the stage under the name Henry Travers.
Travers gained early experience acting in repertory theatre in England.[5] He was billed as Travers Heagerty for a December 1895 production.[6] He played character roles almost from the beginning of his acting career in 1894, often figures who were much older than himself.[7] He made his Broadway debut in The Price of Peace (1901)[8] but returned to England. Travers settled in the United States and played frequently from November 1917 until December 1938 on Broadway in over 30 plays, and was described in The New Yorker as 'one of the most consistent performers now in the American theatre, and at the same time one of its least appreciated'.[9] His last play on Broadway You Can't Take It with You was his best known, where he acted in over 380 performances in two years. In the Oscar-winning movie You Can't Take It With You, Lionel Barrymore played the role which Travers had portrayed on Broadway.
Travers's best remembered role was as James Stewart's somewhat befuddled but kind-hearted guardian angelClarence OdbodyinFrank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life. Travers plays the guardian angel who saves Stewart's from committing suicide, and then shows him how wonderful his life really is. Though the film was a financial flop, it later became a Christmas perennial.
Travers retired in 1949 after his supporting role in The Girl From Jones Beach. Overall, he acted in 52 films.
Travers' first wife was actress Amy Forrest-Rhodes. They were married from 1931 until her death in 1954. In 1955, he married Ann G. Murphy, who survived him.[2]
