Onslow Stevens was the son of character actor Housley Stevenson who, in turn, was the son of a prominent British artist. Stevens' own career in the arts began in 1928, when he was featured in the Pasadena Playhouse production Under the Roof. To believe his publicity, Stevens was "accidentally" hired for film work in 1932 when he agreed to help an actress friend get through her screen test. At first a leading man, Stevens soon established himself in character roles, often cast as saturnine villains -- or, as in the case of films like House of Dracula (1945), he played weak-willed men with the capacity for villainy. From 1952 through 1955, Stevens played the kindly Mr. Fisher on the religious TV dramatic series This Is the Life. Onslow Stevens spent his last years in a nursing home, where, according to his wife, he was persecuted and brutalized by his fellow patients; he died under mysterious circumstances at the age of 75.
by Hal Erickson
biography
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