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 Greer Garson and Ronald Colman in "Random Harvest" (1942) and with Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman in "The Bells of St. Mary's" (1945). Alfred Hitchcock used Travers as a Comic relief in "Shadow of a Doubt" (1943), where he played a bank clerk with a passion for criminal magazines. The character actor also portrayed the Railway Station Master Mr. Ballard with a love for roses who finally wins the annual flower show in his village shortly before dying in a bombardment in "Mrs. Miniver". He received an Academy Award-nomination as Best Supporting Actor for this appearance. Travers's most famous role