Harry Bannister was an American stage, film and television actor, and theater producer and director.

Born in Holland, Michigan

Holland, Michigan

Holland is a city in the western region of the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated near the eastern shore of Lake Michigan on Lake Macatawa, which is fed by the Macatawa River ....

, Bannister began acting in movies and on Broadway in the 1920s. He married the actress Ann Harding

Ann Harding

Ann Harding was an American theatre, motion picture, radio, and television actress.-Early years:Born Dorothy Walton Gatley at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, to George G. Gatley and Elizabeth "Bessie" Crabb. The daughter of a career army officer, she traveled often during her early life...

 in 1926, and appeared with her in two films, Her Private Affair (1929) and The Girl of the Golden West (1930). The two of them also were prominent actors in Pittsburgh theatre

Theatre in Pittsburgh

Theatre in Pittsburgh has existed professionally since the early 1800s and has continued to expand, having emerged as an important cultural force in the city over the past 30 years.-History:...

, appearing in productions with the Sharp Company and later starting the Nixon Players. They were divorced in 1932.

Bannister founded the American Music Hall Theatre Group in New York City. Its first production, a melodrama entitled The Drunkard

The Drunkard

The Drunkard; or, The Fallen Saved is an American temperance play first performed in 1844. A drama in five acts, it was perhaps the most popular play produced in the United States before the dramatization of Uncle Tom's Cabin  in the 1850s. In New York City, P.T. Barnum presented it at his...

, ran for 277 performances. He appeared regularly on Broadway in the 1950s, starring, opposite Celeste Holm

Celeste Holm

Celeste Holm is an American stage, film, and television actress, known for her Academy Award-winning performance in Gentleman's Agreement , as well as for her Oscar-nominated performances in Come to the Stable and All About Eve...

, in Affairs of State

Affairs of State

Affairs of State is a 1950 Broadway comedy written and directed by Louis Verneuil. It opened at the Royale Theatre, then moved to the Music Box Theatre and played for a total of 610 performances.It was the first play Verneuil wrote in English.-Cast:...

and in Love Me Long with Shirley Booth

Shirley Booth

Shirley Booth was an American actress.Primarily a theatre actress, Booth's Broadway career began in 1925. Her most significant success was as Lola Delaney, in the drama Come Back, Little Sheba, for which she received a Tony Award in 1950...

.

On television Bannister played one of the fathers in the 1953 Russel Crouse

Russel Crouse

Russel Crouse was an American playwright and librettist, best known for his work in the Broadway writing partnership of Lindsay and Crouse.-Life and career:...

 series Life with Father

Life with Father

Life with Father is the title of a humorous autobiographical book of stories compiled in 1935 by Clarence Day, Jr., which was adapted in 1939 into a long-running Broadway play by Lindsay and Crouse, which was, in turn, made into a 1947 movie and a television series.-The book:Clarence Day wrote...

.

He died in Manhattan, New York City, at the age of 71.