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Henry Travers

British-American actor

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Born
March 5, 1874
Died
October 18, 1965
Zodiac sign
Pisces
Birth year
1874

About Henry Travers

Travers John Heagerty (5 March 1874 – 18 October 1965), known professionally as Henry Travers, was an English film and stage character actor who specialised in portraying slightly bumbling but amiable and likeable older men. His best known role to today's audiences 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). Other notable films include The Invisible Man (1933), Dark Victory (1939), High Sierra (1941), and The Bells of St. Mary's (1945). Travers's best remembered role was as James Stewart's somewhat befuddled but kind-hearted guardian angel Clarence Odbody in Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life. Travers plays the guardian angel who saves Stewart from committing suicide, and then shows him how wonderful his life really is.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Henry Travers timeline

  1. He also received an Academy Award nomination for his supporting role in Mrs. Miniver (1942).
  2. His best known role to today's audiences was the guardian angel Clarence Odbody in the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life.
  3. Travers's best remembered role was as James Stewart's somewhat befuddled but kind-hearted guardian angel Clarence Odbody in Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life.

The world when Henry Travers was born

Henry Travers was born in 1874. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Headlines and milestones

  • Top headlineFirst zoo in US opens in Philadelphia
  • Technology milestoneBarbed wire patented
  • Notable inventionBarbed wire fencing
  • World population~1.54B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderUlysses S. Grant
  • U.S. population41.8M

1874 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Henry Travers's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure18742026
Population41.8M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.