Henry Travers Henry Travers Travers John Heagerty (5 March 1874 – 18 October 1965), known by the stage name Henry Travers, was an English film and stage character actor. His most famous role was the guardian angel Clarence Odbody in the 1946 film classic "It's a Wonderful Life". He also received an Academy Award nomination for his supporting role in "Mrs. Miniver" (1942). Travers specialized in portraying slightly bumbling but friendly and lovable old men. Travers was born in Prudhoe, Northumberland, and was the son of Daniel Heagerty, a doctor originally from Ireland, and Ellen Gillman Hornibrook Belcher. His mother was a
Henry Travers native of County Cork, Ireland, and 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 also had another 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. 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