in the horror film The Invisible Man. He often portrayed doctors, judges, and fathers of the main figures in supporting roles. Travers specialized on portraying slightly wry and bumbling but friendly and lovable older men. He appeared with 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 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' character 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. Personal life and death 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. After several years in retirement, Travers died as a result of arteriosclerosis in 1965, at the age of 91. He is interred with his second wife in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. The Maltings Theatre in Berwick-upon-Tweed has a performance space, The Henry Travers Studio, named after him. Filmography Reunion in Vienna (1933) as Father Krug Another Language (1933) as Pop Hallan My Weakness (1933) as Ellery Gregory The Invisible Man (1933) as Dr. Cranley Death Takes a Holiday (1934) as Baron Cesarea Born to Be Bad (1934) as Fuzzy The Party's Over (1934) as Theodore Ready for Love (1934) as Judge Pickett Maybe It's Love (1935) as Mr. Halevy After Office Hours (1935) as Cap Captain Hurricane (1935) as Capt. Ben Four Hours to Kill! (1935) as Mac Mason Escapade (1935) as Concierge Pursuit (1935) as Thomas 'Tom' Reynolds Seven Keys to Baldpate (1935) as Adalbert 'Lem' Peters / The Hermit Too Many Parents (1936) as Wilkins