Harry Davenport
Encyclopedia
Harold George Bryant "Harry" Davenport (January 19, 1866 – August 9, 1949) was an American film and stage actor. He appeared in a number of roles in many famous films from the early 1900s to the late 1940s. His specialty was playing grandfathers, judges, doctors, and ministers. He is perhaps best known for playing Dr. Meade in Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind (film)
Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American historical epic film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. It was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming from a screenplay by Sidney Howard...

(1939).

Early life

Davenport was born in Canton
Canton
- Administrative divisions :* Canton , territorial/administrative subdivision in some countries, notably Switzerland* Township , known as canton in Canadian French- China :...

 and grew up in Philadelphia. He came from a long line of stage actors; his father was the famed thespian Edward Loomis Davenport
Edward Loomis Davenport
Edward Loomis Davenport was an American actor.Born in Boston, he made his first appearance on the stage in Providence, Rhode Island in support of Junius Brutus Booth. Afterwards he went to England, where he supported Mrs. Anna Cora Mowatt , William Charles Macready and others...

 and his mother, Fanny Vining, was an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 actress descendant of the renowned 18th-century Irish stage actor, Jack Johnson. His sister was actress Fanny Davenport
Fanny Davenport
Fanny Lily Gipsy Davenport was an English-American stage actress. The daughter of Edward Loomis Davenport and Fanny Vining, she was born in London, England, but was brought to America when a child and educated in the Boston public schools...

. He made his stage debut at the age of five in the play Damon and Pythias
Damon and Pythias (play)
Damon and Pythias is the only surviving play by Richard Edwards. Written in 1564 but not published until 1571, the play chronicles the Greek friendship story of Damon and Pythias....

.

Film career

He started his film career at the age of 48. His film debut came in 1914 with silent film Too Many Husbands, in which he played a man trying to keep his love-struck nephew away from a young woman he had raised as his daughter. Later that same year, he starred in Fogg's Millions co-starring Rose Tapley
Rose Tapley
Rose Elizabeth Tapley was an American actress of the stage and an early heroine of silent films.-Early life:...

. The film would go on to become the first in a series of silent comedy shorts. In addition, he also directed eleven silent features during the pre-World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 era, including many of the films in the Mr. and Mrs. Jarr series.

In 1913, he co-founded, along with actor Eddie Foy
Eddie Foy
Eddie Foy, Sr. , was an actor, comedian, dancer and vaudevillian.-Early years:...

, the Actors Equity Association, an American labor union for actors. The original organization, known as The White Rats
The White Rats
The White Rats was an organization formed by vaudeville performers, led by George Fuller Golden, as a labor union to support the rights of performers...

, was spearheaded by Davenport. After a nine month stretch, the actors' group united in defiance of the appalling treatment of actors by theater owners such as the Shubert family
Shubert family
The Shubert family of New York City, New York was responsible for the establishment of the Broadway district, in New York City, as the hub of the theatre industry in the United States...

 and David Belasco
David Belasco
David Belasco was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director and playwright.-Biography:Born in San Francisco, California, where his Sephardic Jewish parents had moved from London, England, during the Gold Rush, he began working in a San Francisco theatre doing a variety of routine jobs,...

, among others, by refusing to appear on stage by striking. The actions of the association caused the closure of all the theaters on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

, the only exception being theaters owned by George M. Cohan
George M. Cohan
George Michael Cohan , known professionally as George M. Cohan, was a major American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer, and producer....

's company.

Some of the most famous films that he appeared in are The Bride Came C.O.D.
The Bride Came C.O.D.
The Bride Came C.O.D. is a 1941 Warner Bros. screwball romantic comedy starring James Cagney as a pilot and Bette Davis as a runaway heiress. Although the film was publicized as the first movie pairing of Warner Bros.' two biggest stars, they had actually made Jimmy the Gent together in 1934.The...

, filmed on location in Death Valley, The Life of Emile Zola
The Life of Emile Zola
The Life of Emile Zola is a 1937 American biographical film about French author Émile Zola. Set in the mid through late 19th century, it depicts his friendship with noted painter Paul Cézanne, and his rise to fame through his prolific writing, with particular focus on his involvement in the Dreyfus...

, You Can't Take it With You
You Can't Take It with You (film)
You Can't Take It With You Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. The cast includes James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore and Edward Arnold....

, Gone with the Wind, The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939 film)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1939 American monochrome film starring Charles Laughton as Quasimodo and Maureen O'Hara as Esmeralda. It was directed by William Dieterle and produced by Pandro S. Berman...

, Foreign Correspondent
Foreign Correspondent (film)
Foreign Correspondent is a 1940 American spy thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock which tells the story of an American reporter who tries to expose enemy spies in Britain, a series of events involving a continent-wide conspiracy that eventually leads to the events of a fictionalized World War...

, Kings Row
Kings Row
Kings Row is a 1942 film starring Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, and Ronald Reagan that tells a story of young people growing up in a small American town at the turn of the twentieth century, beset by social pressure, dark secrets, and the challenges and tragedies one must face as a result of these...

, The Ox-Bow Incident
The Ox-Bow Incident
The Ox-Bow Incident is a 1943 American western film directed by William A. Wellman and starring Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Mary Beth Hughes, Anthony Quinn, William Eythe, Harry Morgan and Jane Darwell...

, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer
The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer
The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer is a 1947 American screwball comedy film directed by Irving Reis. The screenplay was written by Sidney Sheldon. The film stars Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, and Shirley Temple in a story about a teenager's crush on an older man. The film was a critical success...

, and Meet Me in St. Louis
Meet Me in St. Louis
Meet Me in St. Louis is a 1944 musical film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer which tells the story of an American family living in St. Louis at the time of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair in 1904...

.

Personal life

He married Alice Davenport
Alice Davenport
Alice Davenport was an American film actress. She appeared in some 140 films between 1911 and 1930.She was born Alice Shepphard in New York, New York, and died in Los Angeles, California. She made her stage debut at age five...

 in 1893. They had one daughter, Dorothy Davenport
Dorothy Davenport
Dorothy Davenport was an American actress, screenwriter, film director, and producer who appeared in silent film for Biograph Studios under the direction of D.W. Griffith.-Early career:...

, who also became an actress. After divorcing Alice in 1896, he married actress Phyllis Rankin
Phyllis Rankin
Phyllis Rankin was a Broadway actress and singer from the 1880s until the 1920s. Her full name was Phyllis McKee Rankin.-Family:...

, that same year. They had four children, all actors: Arthur Rankin (father of Arthur Rankin, Jr.
Arthur Rankin, Jr.
Arthur Rankin, Jr. is an American-born, Bermudian director, producer and writer, mostly working in animation.The son of actor , in the early 1960s he founded the film production company Videocraft International with Jules Bass...

, founder of the Rankin/Bass
Rankin/Bass
Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc. , also known as Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment, was an American production company, known for its seasonal television specials, particularly its work in stop-motion animation. The pre-1974 library is currently owned by Classic Media,while the post-1974 library is...

 animation studio), Ned Davenport, Ann Davenport, and Kate Davenport. The 10 August 1949 Canton
Canton, Pennsylvania
Canton is a borough in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,807 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Canton is located at ....

 Sunday Telegram
obituary noted that the couple were together until her death, contrary to reports that he divorced her and re-married. Through his marriage to Phyllis, he was the brother-in-law of Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul...

, who was married at the time to Phyllis' sister Doris
Doris Rankin
Doris Rankin was an American film actress and the younger daughter of actor McKee Rankin and an unnamed actress though Rankin was married to actress Kitty Blanchard. She was married to actor Lionel Barrymore from 1904-1923. Her older sister, Gladys Rankin, was married to Lionel's uncle Sidney Drew...

. Phyllis's father, McKee Rankin, had been the top actor at the Arch Street Theater, which was run by Lionel's grandmother and Sidney's mother, Louisa Lane Drew
Louisa Lane Drew
Louisa Lane Drew was a British actress and theater owner.She and her third husband John Drew were the parents of Louisa Drew , John Drew, Jr. and Georgie Drew . She had no children from her first two marriages...

. He was the grandfather of producer Dirk Wayne Summers, Arthur Rankin Jr. and Wallace Reid Jr.

After Phyllis's death, Davenport moved to Los Angeles and lived with his now-grown children. He died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...

 at the age of 83.

Partial filmography

  • Three Men on a Horse
    Three Men on a Horse
    Three Men on a Horse is a play by George Abbott and John Cecil Holm. The comedy focuses on a man who discovers he has a talent for choosing the winning horse in a race as long as he never places a bet himself.-Plot:...

    (1936)
  • They Won't Forget
    They Won't Forget
    They Won't Forget is a 1937 film directed by Mervyn LeRoy . It was based on a novel by Ward Greene called Death in The Deep South, which was in turn a fictionalized account of a real life case: the trial and subsequent lynching of Leo Frank after the murder of Mary Phagan in 1913...

    (1937)
  • The Life of Emile Zola
    The Life of Emile Zola
    The Life of Emile Zola is a 1937 American biographical film about French author Émile Zola. Set in the mid through late 19th century, it depicts his friendship with noted painter Paul Cézanne, and his rise to fame through his prolific writing, with particular focus on his involvement in the Dreyfus...

    (1937)
  • First Lady
    First Lady (film)
    First Lady is a 1937 film about behind-the-scenes political maneuverings in Washington, D.C.. It stars Kay Francis and Verree Teasdale as bitter rivals in their pursuit of the title of First Lady. It is based on the play of the same name by George S...

    (1937)
  • Marie Antoinette
    Marie Antoinette (1938 film)
    Marie Antoinette is a 1938 film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starred Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette...

    (1938)
  • You Can't Take It With You
    You Can't Take It with You (film)
    You Can't Take It With You Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. The cast includes James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore and Edward Arnold....

    (1938)
  • The Rage of Paris
    The Rage of Paris
    The Rage of Paris is a 1938 comedy film made by Universal Pictures. The movie was directed by Henry Koster, and written by Bruce Manning and Felix Jackson. It won the Venice Film Festival for Special Recommendation.-Cast:...

    (1938)
  • Long Shot (1939)
  • Tail Spin
    Tail Spin
    Tail Spin is a 1939 aviation film starring Alice Faye, Constance Bennett, Nancy Kelly, Joan Davis, Charles Farrell, and Jane Wyman. The movie was written by Frank Wead and directed by Roy Del Ruth.-Cast:* Alice Faye as Trixie Lee...

    (1939)
  • The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
    The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
    The Story of Alexander Graham Bell is a somewhat fictionalized 1939 screen biography of the famous inventor of the telephone. It was filmed in black-and-white and released by Twentieth Century-Fox. The film stars Don Ameche as Bell and Loretta Young as Mabel, his wife, who contracted scarlet fever...

    (1939)
  • Juarez
    Juarez (1939 film)
    Juarez is a 1939 American historical drama film directed by William Dieterle. The screenplay by Aeneas MacKenzie, John Huston, and Wolfgang Reinhardt is based on the novel The Phantom Crown by Bertita Harding and the play Juarez and Maximilian by Franz Werfel.-Plot:The film focuses on the conflict...

    (1939)
  • Gone with the Wind
    Gone with the Wind (film)
    Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American historical epic film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. It was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming from a screenplay by Sidney Howard...

    (1939)
  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame
    The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939 film)
    The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1939 American monochrome film starring Charles Laughton as Quasimodo and Maureen O'Hara as Esmeralda. It was directed by William Dieterle and produced by Pandro S. Berman...

    (1939)
  • Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940)
  • Too Many Husbands
    Too Many Husbands
    Too Many Husbands is a 1940 romantic comedy film about a woman who loses her husband in a boating accident and remarries, only to have her first spouse reappear. The film stars Jean Arthur, Fred MacMurray and Melvyn Douglas, and is based on the 1919 play "Home and Beauty" by W. Somerset Maugham...

    (1940)
  • All This, and Heaven Too (1940)
  • Lucky Partners (1940)
  • Foreign Correspondent
    Foreign Correspondent (film)
    Foreign Correspondent is a 1940 American spy thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock which tells the story of an American reporter who tries to expose enemy spies in Britain, a series of events involving a continent-wide conspiracy that eventually leads to the events of a fictionalized World War...

    (1940)
  • That Uncertain Feeling
    That Uncertain Feeling (film)
    That Uncertain Feeling is a 1941 comedy film directed by Ernst Lubitsch and starring Merle Oberon, Melvyn Douglas and Burgess Meredith. The film is about the bored wife of an insurance salesman who meets an eccentric pianist and seeks a divorce. The screenplay by Walter Reisch and Donald Ogden...

    (1941)
  • The Bride Came C.O.D.
    The Bride Came C.O.D.
    The Bride Came C.O.D. is a 1941 Warner Bros. screwball romantic comedy starring James Cagney as a pilot and Bette Davis as a runaway heiress. Although the film was publicized as the first movie pairing of Warner Bros.' two biggest stars, they had actually made Jimmy the Gent together in 1934.The...

    (1941)
  • One Foot in Heaven
    One Foot in Heaven
    One Foot in Heaven is a 1941 American biographical film starring Fredric March, Martha Scott, Beulah Bondi, Gene Lockhart and Elisabeth Fraser.The movie was adapted by Casey Robinson from the autobiography by Hartzell Spence...

    (1941)
  • Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake
    Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake
    Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake is a 1942 adventure film directed by John Cromwell, starring Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney. The film was adapted from Edison Marshall's 1941 historical novel Benjamin Blake.-Plot:...

    (1942)
  • Kings Row
    Kings Row
    Kings Row is a 1942 film starring Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, and Ronald Reagan that tells a story of young people growing up in a small American town at the turn of the twentieth century, beset by social pressure, dark secrets, and the challenges and tragedies one must face as a result of these...

    (1942)
  • Larceny, Inc.
    Larceny, Inc.
    Larceny, Inc. is an American film. Originally released on May 2, 1942 by Warner Brothers, the film is a cross between the comedy and gangster genres. Directed by Lloyd Bacon, it stars Edward G. Robinson, Jane Wyman, Broderick Crawford, Jack Carson, Anthony Quinn, and Edward Brophy.The film is based...

    (1942)
  • Tales of Manhattan
    Tales of Manhattan
    Tales of Manhattan is a 1942 American anthology film directed by Julien Duvivier. Thirteen writers, including Ben Hecht, Alan Campbell, Ferenc Molnár, Samuel Hoffenstein, and Donald Ogden Stewart worked on the six stories in this film.-Cast:...

    (1942)
  • The Amazing Mrs. Holliday
    The Amazing Mrs. Holliday
    The Amazing Mrs. Holliday is a 1943 film starring Deanna Durbin as a missionary who goes to great lengths, even posing as "Mrs. Holliday", in order to get some Chinese war orphans into the United States. Director Jean Renoir was replaced by Bruce Manning partway through production...

    (1943)
  • The Ox-Bow Incident
    The Ox-Bow Incident
    The Ox-Bow Incident is a 1943 American western film directed by William A. Wellman and starring Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Mary Beth Hughes, Anthony Quinn, William Eythe, Harry Morgan and Jane Darwell...

    (1943)
  • We've Never Been Licked
    We've Never Been Licked
    We've Never Been Licked is a World War II propaganda film produced by Walter Wanger and released by United Artists. Parts of the movie were shot on location at the Texas A&M University campus...

    (1943)
  • Princess O'Rourke
    Princess O'Rourke
    Princess O'Rourke is a 1943 romantic comedy film. It was directed and written by Norman Krasna and starring Olivia de Havilland, Robert Cummings and Charles Coburn...

    (1943)
  • Jack London
    Jack London (1943 film)
    Jack London, also known as The Story of Jack London, is a 1943 American biographical film made by Samuel Bronston Productions and distributed by United Artists. It was directed by Alfred Santell and produced by Samuel Bronston with Joseph H...

    (1943)
  • Kismet
    Kismet (1944 film)
    Kismet is a 1944 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film in Technicolor starring Ronald Colman, Marlene Dietrich, Joy Page, and Florence Bates. James Craig played the young Caliph of Baghdad, and Edward Arnold was the treacherous Grand Vizier...

    (1944)
  • The Impatient Years
    The Impatient Years
    The Impatient Years is a 1944 romance film made by Columbia Pictures, directed by Irving Cummings, and written by Virginia Van Upp.-Plot:...

    (1944)
  • Meet Me in St. Louis
    Meet Me in St. Louis
    Meet Me in St. Louis is a 1944 musical film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer which tells the story of an American family living in St. Louis at the time of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair in 1904...

    (1944)
  • Music for Millions
    Music for Millions
    Music for Millions is a 1944 musical comedy film directed by Henry Koster. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 1946.-Plot:"Mike" , age 6, arrives in New York to stay with her sister Barbara Ainsworth , who lived together with a group of girls, her co-players in a symphony orchestra...

    (1944)
  • The Thin Man Goes Home
    The Thin Man Goes Home
    The Thin Man Goes Home is a 1945 motion picture directed by Richard Thorpe. It is the fifth of the six Thin Man films starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Dashiell Hammett's dapper private detective Nick Charles and his wife Nora.-Plot:...

    (1945)
  • The Enchanted Forest
    The Enchanted Forest
    The Enchanted Forest is a 1945 family film starring Harry Davenport as a hermit who finds and raises a young boy in a forest. The film and story served as the inspiration for a 1998 music composition/recording "Enchanted Forest" by Loren Connors and Suzanne Langille.-Plot:The hermit, Uncle John,...

    (1945)
  • Pardon My Past (1945)
  • Adventure
    Adventure (1945 film)
    Adventure is a 1945 film, based on the novel The Anointed by Clyde Brion Davis. Clark Gable and Greer Garson star as a sailor and a librarian...

    (1945)
  • Courage of Lassie
    Courage of Lassie
    Courage of Lassie is a 1946 MGM feature film starring Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Morgan, and dog actor Pal in a story about a collie named Bill and his young companion, Kathie Merrick. When Bill is separated from Kathie following a vehicular accident, he is trained as a war dog, performs heroically,...

    (1946)
  • Three Wise Fools
    Three Wise Fools (1946 film)
    Three Wise Fools is a 1946 film adaptation of Austin Strong's Broadway play of the same name. A young Irish orphan girl softens the hearts of three hardened old bachelors who were once unsuccessful suitors of her grandmother many years before.-Cast:*Margaret O'Brien as Sheila...

    (1946)
  • Lady Luck
    Lady Luck (1946 film)
    Lady Luck is a Hollywood comedy film released in 1946, starring Robert Young and Barbara Hale. It tells the story of a professional gambler who falls in love with a woman who hates gambling.-External links:*...

    (1946)
  • A Boy and His Dog
    A Boy and His Dog (1946 film)
    A Boy and His Dog is a 1946 short drama film directed by LeRoy Prinz. It won an Academy Award at the 19th Academy Awards in 1947 for Best Short Subject ....

    (1946 short)
  • The Farmer's Daughter (1947)
  • The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer
    The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer
    The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer is a 1947 American screwball comedy film directed by Irving Reis. The screenplay was written by Sidney Sheldon. The film stars Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, and Shirley Temple in a story about a teenager's crush on an older man. The film was a critical success...

    (1947)
  • That Hagen Girl
    That Hagen Girl
    That Hagen Girl is a 1947 American drama film directed by Peter Godfrey. The screenplay by Charles Hoffman was based on the novel by Edith Kneipple Roberts. The film focuses on small town teenage girl Mary Hagen whom gossips believe is the illegitimate daughter of former resident and lawyer Tom...

    (1947)
  • That Lady in Ermine
    That Lady in Ermine
    That Lady in Ermine is a 1948 American musical film directed by Ernst Lubitsch. The screenplay by Samson Raphaelson is based on the operetta Die Frau im Hermelin by Rudolph Schanzer and Ernst Welisch....

    (1948)
  • Down to the Sea in Ships
    Down to the Sea in Ships
    Down to the Sea in Ships is a 1922 American silent film about a 19th century Massachusetts whaling family. Directed by Elmer Clifton, the film stars William Walcott, Marguerite Courtot, and Clara Bow.-Plot:...

    (1949)
  • Little Women
    Little Women (1949 film)
    Little Women directed by Mervyn LeRoy is based on Louisa May Alcott's novel of the same name. The screenplay was written by Sally Benson, Victor Heerman, Sarah Y. Mason, and Andrew Solt...

    (1949)
  • That Forsyte Woman
    That Forsyte Woman
    That Forsyte Woman is a 1949 romance film starring Greer Garson, Errol Flynn, Walter Pidgeon, Robert Young and Janet Leigh...

    (1949)
  • Tell It to the Judge
    Tell It to the Judge
    Tell It to the Judge is a 1949 romantic comedy film starring Rosalind Russell as a divorcee who tries to get her ex-husband, played by Robert Cummings, back.-Cast:*Rosalind Russell as Marsha Meredith*Robert Cummings as Peter B...

    (1949)
  • Riding High
    Riding High (1950 film)
    Riding High is a black and white musical racetrack film featuring Bing Crosby and directed by Frank Capra in which the songs were actually sung as the movie was being filmed instead of the customary lip-synching to previous recordings. The movie is a remake of an earlier Capra film called...

    (1950)


External links

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