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
Banana Ridge (play) serious play on a religious theme, but it was not a success. He did better with his next play, "O Mistress Mine" (1936), a romantic Ruritanian comedy. "Banana Ridge" was his return to the genre for which he was celebrated. It starred Robertson Hare, one of the best-loved members of the regular Aldwych team, and Alfred Drayton, an experienced and popular comic actor. Travers, who did not usually act, played the role of Wun, a servant. He had spent some years in Malaya as a young man, and wrote, and sometimes improvised, colloquial Malay lines for himself. The play was