--- name: "Henry Wilcoxon" canonical: "https://film.one/person/henry-wilcoxon" roles: ["Actor","Producer"] born: "8 September 1905" died: "6 March 1984" reviewed_on_fi1m: 4 average_fi1m_score: 65 average_as: "actor" average_over: 3 updated: "2026-09-20T03:06:45.670826+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Henry Wilcoxon Actor and producer. Born 8 September 1905 in Roseau, Dominica, British West Indies. Died 6 March 1984. ## Details - **Work:** Actor, Producer - **Born:** 8 September 1905, Roseau, Dominica, British West Indies - **Died:** 6 March 1984 - **Active:** 1942–1956 - **Also known as:** Генри Уилкоксон, Harry Frederick Wilcoxon - **Titles on Fi1m:** 4: 3 acting, 1 other - **Average Fi1m score:** 65, as actor, over 3 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1940s 73 (1), 1950s 72 (3) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 65 to 68 across 3 titles - **Score spread:** 0 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 1 under 60 - **Lead roles:** 0 of 2 acting credits billed first or second - **Genres:** Drama 3, Romance 2, History 1, War 1 - **Screen time:** 8 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $172m across 3 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Wilcoxon, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1372180, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0928295/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/51310 ## Fi1m on Henry Wilcoxon > Henry Wilcoxon had a voice for pulpits and a frame for armour, and DeMille used both across six films. He was dependable rather than exciting, but dependable is rare in a DeMille picture, and in *Mrs. Miniver* he helped write the speech he is remembered for. Listen to Henry Wilcoxon before you look at him. The voice is deep, unhurried and pitched to reach the back of a large room, and for the best part of fifty years the pictures gave it to men who speak from a height: a Roman general, a prince, a vicar, a bishop. The straight back and the athlete's shoulders came with it. He was built for a Cecil B. DeMille film, and DeMille, who found him through a screen test, knew it. He arrived from the London stage with eight British films behind him. DeMille made him Marc Antony in *Cleopatra* (1934) and gave him the name Henry Wilcoxon. The lead in *The Crusades* (1935) followed; the film failed, and he spent the rest of the decade in B pictures. The United States Coast Guard took him from 1941 to 1946, and when he came back it was to DeMille again, as actor and, from the late 1940s, as associate producer: Prince Ahtur in *Samson and Delilah* (1949), Agent Gregory in *The Greatest Show on Earth* (1952), Pentaur in *The Ten Commandments* (1956). After DeMille died the work thinned to occasional film and television, and a last turn as the Bishop in *Caddyshack* (1980), which is where many people first met him. The part he is remembered for is smaller than any of those. The vicar in *Mrs. Miniver* (1942) is one of a village of decent people seen, as we said when we reviewed it, from a visiting producer's height, and Wilcoxon plays him as decently as the rest. What sets him apart is the sermon near the end, which he wrote with William Wyler and which travelled a long way beyond the cinemas during the war. For once the voice and the words belong to the same man. We did not expect to think about him much in *The Greatest Show on Earth*. We found the film stiff whenever anyone opened their mouth, and 152 minutes is a long afternoon under canvas. But his Agent Gregory, who keeps turning up at the lot with questions about a clown who will not take his make-up off, belongs to the one story the film shows rather than announces, opposite James Stewart at his quietest, and we were sorry every time the trapeze romance cut in on it. Wilcoxon does little. He asks, he waits, he comes back. Among so much declaiming, a man who keeps turning up is a relief. He was associate producer on the picture too. In 1976 he said of his director: "Contrary to popular conception, DeMille hated yes-men. He always used to say, 'I don't want everyone agreeing with me. I don't want 50 little DeMilles ... It's bad enough to have one.'" He stayed for six films all the same. Start with *Mrs. Miniver*. Save *The Greatest Show on Earth* for a wet Sunday, and when Agent Gregory walks onto the lot and starts asking questions, do not look away; the film takes its time telling you why he is there. ## Biography Henry Wilcoxon (born Harry Frederick Wilcoxon) was a British-American actor and film producer. He was born on 8 September 1905 in Roseau, Dominica, then part of the British West Indies, and died on 6 March 1984 in Burbank, California. Wilcoxon made his stage debut in London in 1925 and his film debut in 1931. He became a regular in Cecil B. DeMille productions, appearing in films including *Cleopatra* (1934), *Samson and Delilah* (1949), *The Greatest Show on Earth* (1952) and *The Ten Commandments* (1956), on which he also served as associate producer. He played the Vicar in *Mrs. Miniver* (1942), for which he contributed to the closing speech, and reprised the role in the sequel *The Miniver Story* (1950). During the Second World War he served in the United States Coast Guard, reaching the rank of lieutenant commander. Later credits include *Caddyshack* (1980). *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, projects.latimes.com.* ## On Fi1m (4) ### Performed in (3) — the average rests on these - *The Ten Commandments* (1956), Fi1m 67, as Pentaur — [page](https://film.one/film/the-ten-commandments.md) - *The Greatest Show on Earth* (1952), Fi1m 56, as Agent Gregory — [page](https://film.one/film/the-greatest-show-on-earth.md) - *Mrs. Miniver* (1942), Fi1m 73, as Vicar — [page](https://film.one/film/mrs-miniver.md) ### Also credited (1) — thanks, archive footage, uncredited - *Sunset Boulevard* (1950), Fi1m 93, as Actor on Samson & Delilah Set (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/film/sunset-boulevard.md) ## Complete filmography (71) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Sweet Sixteen* (1983), as Greyfeather - *Cagney & Lacey* (1982), series, as Mr. Mathers — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/tv/cagney-and-lacey.md) - *Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb* (1980), as Secretary of War Stimson - *The Man with Bogart's Face* (1980), as Mr. Chevalier - *Caddyshack* (1980), as The Bishop - *The Two Worlds of Jennie Logan* (1979), as Harrington - *F.I.S.T.* (1978), as Win Talbot - *When Every Day Was the Fourth of July* (1978), as Judge Henry J. Wheeler - *Pony Express Rider* (1976), as Trevor Kingman - *Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood* (1976), as Silent Film Director - *Against a Crooked Sky* (1975), as Cut Tongue / Narrator - *The Log of the Black Pearl* (1975), as Alexander Sand - *The Tribe* (1974), as Cana - *Doomsday Machine* (1972), as Dr. Christopher Perry - *Man in the Wilderness* (1971), as Indian Chief - *Sarge* (1971), series, as Bishop Andrade - *Sarge: The Badge or the Cross* (1971), as Bishop Andrade - *Marcus Welby, M.D.* (1969), series, as Captain Rick Ballinger - *The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell* (1968), as Rear Admiral Arthur L. Stokes - *It Takes a Thief* (1968), series, as Prime Minister Garth - *Cimarron Strip* (1967), series, Actor - *The War Lord* (1965), as Frisian Prince - *The F.B.I.* (1965), series, as Captain Bowers - *The Wild Wild West* (1965), series, as Armando Galiano - *The Big Valley* (1965), series, as Don Alfredo - *Daniel Boone* (1964), series, as William Blunt - *The Ten Commandments* (1956), as Pentaur · Associate Producer — Fi1m 67, [page](https://film.one/film/the-ten-commandments.md) - *Gunsmoke* (1955), series, as John Bramley - *Scaramouche* (1952), as Chevalier de Chabrillaine - *The Greatest Show on Earth* (1952), as Agent Gregory · Associate Producer — Fi1m 56, [page](https://film.one/film/the-greatest-show-on-earth.md) - *The Miniver Story* (1950), as Vicar - *Sunset Boulevard* (1950), as Actor on Samson & Delilah Set (uncredited) — Fi1m 93, [page](https://film.one/film/sunset-boulevard.md) - *Samson and Delilah* (1949), as Prince Ahtur - *A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court* (1949), as Sir Lancelot - *Unconquered* (1947), as Captain Steele - *Dragnet* (1947), as Inspector Geoffrey James - *Johnny Doughboy* (1942), as Oliver Lawrence - *Mrs. Miniver* (1942), as Vicar — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/film/mrs-miniver.md) - *The Man Who Wouldn't Die* (1942), as Dr. Haggard - *The Corsican Brothers* (1942), as Count Victor Franchi - *South of Tahiti* (1941), as Captain Larkin - *That Hamilton Woman* (1941), as Captain Hardy - *Scotland Yard* (1941), as Dakin Barrolles - *The Lone Wolf Takes a Chance* (1941), as Frank Jordan - *Mystery Sea Raider* (1940), as Captain Jimmy Madden - *Earthbound* (1940), as Jeffrey Reynolds - *The Crooked Road* (1940), as Bob Trent - *Free, Blonde and 21* (1940), as Dr. Hugh Mayberry - *Tarzan Finds a Son!* (1939), as Mr. 'Sandee' Sande - *Chasing Danger* (1939), as Captain Andre Duvac - *The Arizona Wildcat* (1939), as Richard Baldwin - *Woman Doctor* (1939), as Allan Graeme - *Five of a Kind* (1938), as Dr. Scott Williams - *If I Were King* (1938), as Captain of the Watch - *Mysterious Mr. Moto* (1938), as Anton Darvak - *Keep Smiling* (1938), as Jonathan Rand - *Prison Nurse* (1938), as Dale - *Souls at Sea* (1937), as Lieutenant Stanley Tarryton - *Jericho* (1937), as Capt. Mack - *The President's Mystery* (1936), as James Blake - *The Last of the Mohicans* (1936), as Maj. Duncan Heyward - *A Woman Alone* (1936), as Capt. Nicolai Ilyinski - *Hollywood Extra Girl* (1935), as Crusades Actor (uncredited) - *The Crusades* (1935), as Richard, King of England - *Cleopatra* (1934), as Marc Antony - *Princess Charming* (1934), as Capt. André Launa - *Lord of the Manor* (1933), as Jim Bridge - *The Flying Squad* (1932), as Inspector Bradley - *Self Made Lady* (1932), as Bert Taverner - *Two Way Street* (1931), as Bert Adams - *The Perfect Lady* (1931), as Larry Tindale ## Gallery - ![Henry Wilcoxon](https://film.one/media/person/307395/gallery-c2383f6e4279.jpg) Henry Wilcoxon — Trailer screenshot Licencing information : https://web.archive.org/web/20080321033709/http://www.sabucat.com/?pg=copyright and http://www.creativeclearance.com/guidelines.html#D2, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Henry_Wilcoxon_in_The_Miniver_Story.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Screenshot of Henry Wilcoxon from the trailer for the film Cleopatra. (1934)](https://film.one/media/person/307395/gallery-0e94d9c061af.jpg) Screenshot of Henry Wilcoxon from the trailer for the film Cleopatra. (1934) — Trailer screenshot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Henry_Wilcoxon_as_Marc_Antony.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Henry Wilcoxon at the National Film Society convention, May 1979. NOTE: Permission granted to copy, publish, broadcast or post any of my photos, but please cred](https://film.one/media/person/307395/gallery-91b7e69c6fb8.jpg) Henry Wilcoxon at the National Film Society convention, May 1979. NOTE: Permission granted to copy, publish, broadcast or post any of my photos, but please cred — Alan Light, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Henry_Wilcoxon_%284506298114%29.jpg/1280px-Henry_Wilcoxon_%284506298114%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Henry Wilcoxon at the National Film Society convention, May 1979. NOTE: Permission granted to copy, publish, broadcast or post any of my photos, but please cred](https://film.one/media/person/307395/gallery-c9da50360844.jpg) Henry Wilcoxon at the National Film Society convention, May 1979. NOTE: Permission granted to copy, publish, broadcast or post any of my photos, but please cred — Alan Light, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/Henry_Wilcoxon_%284506299678%29.jpg/1280px-Henry_Wilcoxon_%284506299678%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Henry Wilcoxon](https://film.one/media/person/307395/gallery-4d84dd02470a.jpg) Henry Wilcoxon — Image via TMDB - ![Henry Wilcoxon](https://film.one/media/person/307395/gallery-e9ee142a53d9.jpg) Henry Wilcoxon — Image via TMDB - ![Henry Wilcoxon](https://film.one/media/person/307395/gallery-a4e12e63509d.jpg) Henry Wilcoxon — Image via TMDB - ![Henry Wilcoxon at the National Film Society convention, May 1979. NOTE: Permission granted to copy, publish, broadcast or post any of my photos, but please cred](https://film.one/media/person/307395/gallery-83209e185e2e.jpg) Henry Wilcoxon at the National Film Society convention, May 1979. NOTE: Permission granted to copy, publish, broadcast or post any of my photos, but please cred — Alan Light, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3d/Henry_Wilcoxon_%284506403480%29.jpg/1280px-Henry_Wilcoxon_%284506403480%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Screenshot of Charlton Heston and Henry Wilcoxon from the trailer for the film The Ten Commandments. (1956)](https://film.one/media/person/307395/gallery-b964c00c4858.jpg) Screenshot of Charlton Heston and Henry Wilcoxon from the trailer for the film The Ten Commandments. (1956) — Trailer screenshot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Charlton_Heston_and_Henry_Wilcoxon_in_The_Ten_Commandments_trailer.jpg/1280px-Charlton_Heston_and_Henry_Wilcoxon_in_The_Ten_Commandments_trailer.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/henry-wilcoxon