Touring in stock companies for nearly half a century, elderly John Philliber finally landed on Broadway in 1942, appearing with great success in Mr. Sycamore and Winterset. Screen work began around the same time and Philliber offered an especially poignant performance as Pop Benson, the aged newspaper librarian supplying crusading reporter Dick Powell future copies in the romantic fantasy It Happened Tomorrow (1944). There were a few other roles but Philliber's burgeoning screen career was cut short by his sudden death in November of 1944.