Harry Davenport

Actor

About

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Also Known As

Harry George Bryant Davenport

Birth Place

New York City, New York, USA

Born

January 19, 1866

Died

August 09, 1949

Biography

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During a career that spanned both the silent era and the talkies, Harry Davenport was often cast as grandfathers, doctors, judges, and ministers. He is best known for playing Dr. Meade in the Civil War epic "Gone with the Wind," 1939's Academy Award winner for Best Picture and the highest-grossing film of the Golden Age of American movies. During the making of "Gone with the Wind," the c...

Filmography

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A Son of the Hills (1917)

A Woman Alone (1917)

A Man's Law (1917)

The Millionaire's Double (1917)

Tillie Wakes Up (1917)

The False Friend (1917)

Photos & Videos

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That Hagen Girl (1947) -- (Movie Clip) That Girl's Life

Larceny, Inc. (1942) -- (Movie Clip) Godspeed Bigelow!

Family & Companions

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Alice Davenport

Wife

Actor.

Phyllis Rankin

Wife

Actor.

Biography

During a career that spanned both the silent era and the talkies, Harry Davenport was often cast as grandfathers, doctors, judges, and ministers. He is best known for playing Dr. Meade in the Civil War epic "Gone with the Wind," 1939's Academy Award winner for Best Picture and the highest-grossing film of the Golden Age of American movies. During the making of "Gone with the Wind," the cast and crew honored Davenport's 69th year in show business by presenting him with a personalized actor's chair. After "Gone with the Wind"'s monumental success, Davenport was cast in a number of Oscar-caliber films, including 1939's "Hunchback of Notre Dame"; 1942's coming-of-age-drama "Kings Row"; and the 1943 western "The Ox-Bow Incident," as the sole voice of reason in a bloodthirsty lynch mob. Relegated to playing mostly older characters, Davenport continued acting in movies until his death in 1949 at the age of 83.

Filmography

Director (Feature Film)

A Son of the Hills (1917)

A Woman Alone (1917)

A Man's Law (1917)

The Millionaire's Double (1917)

Tillie Wakes Up (1917)

The False Friend (1917)

The Supreme Temptation (1916)

For a Woman's Fair Name (1916)

The Making over of Geoffrey Manning (1915)

The Island of Regeneration (1915)

Cast (Feature Film)

Adventure of the Action Hunters (1987)

Riding High (1950)

Little Women (1949)

Down to the Sea in Ships (1949)

Benjamin Harris

That Forsyte Woman (1949)

Old Jolyon Forsyte

Tell It to the Judge (1949)

For the Love of Mary (1948)

Justice Peabody

That Lady in Ermine (1948)

The Decision of Christopher Blake (1948)

Courtroom attendant

Man from Texas (1948)

Three Daring Daughters (1948)

That Hagen Girl (1947)

Judge Merrivale

The Fabulous Texan (1947)

The Farmer's Daughter (1947)

Dr. Matthew Sutven

Stallion Road (1947)

The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer (1947)

[Judge] Thaddeus [Turner]

Keeper of the Bees (1947)

Michael Worthington

Sport of Kings (1947)

Adventure (1946)

Three Wise Fools (1946)

Claudia and David (1946)

Faithful in My Fashion (1946)

Lady Luck (1946)

G. I. War Brides (1946)

A Boy, a Girl and a Dog (1946)

Courage of Lassie (1946)

This Love of Ours (1945)

Dr. Jerry Wilkerson

The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)

Dr. Bertram Charles

Music for Millions (1945)

Pardon My Past (1945)

Grandpa Pemberton

The Enchanted Forest (1945)

Too Young to Know (1945)

Judge Benjamin Boller

She Wouldn't Say Yes (1945)

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

Grandpa [Prophater]

Government Girl (1944)

Senator MacVickers

The Impatient Years (1944)

The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)

We've Never Been Licked (1943)

Princess O'Rourke (1943)

Supreme Court judge

Gangway for Tomorrow (1943)

Headin' for God's Country (1943)

Shantytown (1943)

Jack London (1943)

Professor Hilliard

The Amazing Mrs. Holliday (1943)

Commodore [Thomas Spencer Holliday]

December 7th (1943)

Kings Row (1942)

Colonel Skeffington

Son of Fury (1942)

Ten Gentlemen from West Point (1942)

Larceny, Inc. (1942)

Tales of Manhattan (1942)

Professor Lyons

Meet John Doe (1941)

Former owner of The Bulletin

The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941)

I Wanted Wings (1941)

"Sandbags" Riley

One Foot in Heaven (1941)

That Uncertain Feeling (1941)

Hurricane Smith (1941)

Robert Ingersoll Reed

Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940)

All This, and Heaven Too (1940)

Foreign Correspondent (1940)

Lucky Partners (1940)

I Want a Divorce (1940)

Granny Get Your Gun (1940)

Grandpa Goes to Town (1940)

Too Many Husbands (1940)

Earl of Puddlestone (1940)

Grandpa [Ed Carson]

Tail Spin (1939)

Exile Express (1939)

Made for Each Other (1939)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)

Death of a Champion (1939)

The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939)

The Long Shot (1939)

The Covered Trailer (1939)

Grandpa [Ed Carson]

Money to Burn (1939)

Grandpa [Ed Carson]

My Wife's Relatives (1939)

Grandpa [Ed Carson]

Should Husbands Work? (1939)

Grandpa [Ed Carson]

Dr. Samuel Basch

Gone With the Wind (1939)

The Rage of Paris (1938)

The Cowboy and the Lady (1938)

Uncle Hannibal Smith

Reckless Living (1938)

Orphans of the Street (1938)

Doc Will Ramsey

The Higgins Family (1938)

Grandpa [William Jordan]

The First Hundred Years (1938)

Saleslady (1938)

Young Fugitives (1938)

Gold Is Where You Find It (1938)

The Sisters (1938)

You Can't Take It with You (1938)

Fly Away Baby (1937)

As Good As Married (1937)

Armored Car (1937)

Mr. Dodd Takes the Air (1937)

Her Husband's Secretary (1937)

Paradise Express (1937)

White Bondage (1937)

Fit for a King (1937)

Wells Fargo (1937)

Ingalls, banker

First Lady (1937)

The Great Garrick (1937)

Innkeeper of "Turk's Head"

Four Days' Wonder (1937)

Legion of Terror (1936)

Three Men on a Horse (1936)

The Case of the Black Cat (1936)

King of Hockey (1936)

The Scoundrel (1935)

Get That Venus (1933)

His Woman (1931)

Customs inspector

Her Unborn Child (1930)

The Unknown Quantity (1919)

Septimus Kinsolving

A Girl at Bay (1919)

Sowers and Reapers (1917)

Henry Ainsworth

The Planter (1917)

The Wheel of the Law (1916)

C. O. Darlington

Cast (Short)

A Boy and His Dog (1946)

Under Southern Stars (1936)

Life Events

1871

First role on stage

1912

First film as actor and director

Photo Collections

That Forsyte Woman - Scene Stills

Here are several scene stills from MGM's That Forsyte Woman (1949), starring Greer Garson, Errol Flynn, and Robert Young.

Videos

That Hagen Girl (1947) -- (Movie Clip) That Girl's Life Harry Davenport is the old lawyer in fictional Jordan, Ohio, sending protege Tom (Ronald Reagan) away because of the false rumor that he's the father of an adopted girl, who'll grow up to be Shirley Temple, with friend Jean Porter, loafer Tom Fadden inquiring, early in That Hagen Girl, 1947.

Larceny, Inc. (1942) -- (Movie Clip) Godspeed Bigelow! Ex-cons Pressure (Edward G. Robinson), Weepy (Edward Brophy) and Jug (Broderick Crawford) are eager to usher the former owner Bigelow (Harry Davenport) out of the failing luggage shop they've just bought for criminal purposes in Larceny Inc., 1942.

Ox-Bow Incident, The (1943) -- (Movie Clip) The Law's Slow And Careless Martin (Dana Andrews), questioned by Major Tetley (Frank Conroy) and other members of the posse-or-lynch-mob, discovers he's suspected of murder, Gil (Henry Fonda) offering some defense, in Wiliam A. Wellman's The Ox-Bow Incident, 1943.

Juarez (1939) -- (Movie Clip) The Vainest Of Pilgrimages Brief scenes with emperor Maximiliian (Brian Aherne) and aide Basch (Harry Davenport) bracket this first of several high-wire scenes that caused Bette Davis, Warner Bros.' top female star at the time, to insist on playing the supporting role of Empress Carlota, in Juarez, 1939.

Meet Me In St. Louis (1944) -- (Movie Clip) The Lord And Master Trouble at dinnertime, Mother (Mary Astor) presides, Tootie (Margaret O’Brien) throws bombs, sisters (Judy Garland, Lucille Bremer) attempt composure, grandpa (Harry Davenport) wisecracks then father (Leon Ames) arrives, tangling with maid Katie (Marjorie Main), in Meet Me In St. Louis, 1944.

Gone With The Wind (1939) -- (Movie Clip) Bringing A Baby Scarlett (Vivien Leigh) seeks out Doc Meade (Harry Davenport), leading to one of the most famous shots from Gone With The Wind, 1939, then returns home to strike Prissy (Butterfly McQueen) and deliver Melanie's baby herself.

Hunchback of Notre Dame, The (1939) -- (Movie Clip) Esmerelda Teenage (Irish) Gypsy Esmerelda (Maureen O'Hara) enthralls the Paris, ca. 1460's, crowd including King Louis (Harry Davenport) but not his aide Frollo (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) in William Dieterle's 1939 production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

December 7th (1943) -- (Movie Clip) It Can't Happen Here Continuing the conversation, purportedly taking place in Hawaii on December 6th, 1941, with Harry Davenport the “conscience” of Walter Huston who plays “Uncle Sam,” in one of the incendiary quasi-dramatic scenes cut from the original release of the Navy propaganda feature December 7th, 1943.

December 7th (1943) -- (Movie Clip) Full-Fledged American Citizens Harry Davenport plays “Mr. C.,” the “conscience” of Walter Huston who plays “Uncle Sam,” whose inclination is to fully trust the many Japanese-American citizens of Hawaii, early in the hybrid docudrama December 7th, in one of many scenes cut from the original 1943 release.

December 7th (1943) -- (Movie Clip) Certainly, Uncle Sam The credits suggest a straightforward military documentary but the picture, produced mainly by cinematographer Gregg Toland and writer Sam Engel, opens with Walter Huston, playing “Uncle Sam,” and Harry Davenport his “conscience,” in Hawaii on December 6th, 1941, in December 7th, 1943.

Hunchback of Notre Dame, The (1939) -- (Movie Clip) A Printing Press! Harry Davenport (as King Louis XI) takes a progressive view as printer Fisher (Charles Halton) demonstrates new technology and Frollo (Cedric Hardwicke) warns against it in the 1939 version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

That Forsyte Woman (1949) -- (Movie Clip) A Man Of Property Outcast Jolyon (Walter Pidgeon) narrates, watching Forsytes (Harry Davenport, Aubrey Mather, Janet Leigh as "June," et al), in particular cousin Soames (Errol Flynn) who denies he's being played, in MGM's version of the fist book of John Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga, That Forsyte Woman, 1949.

Meet Me in St. Louis - (Re-issue Trailer) Young love and childish fears highlight a year in the life of a turn-of-the-century family in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) starring Judy Garland and Margaret O'Brien.

Family

Ann Davenport

Daughter

Kate Davenport

Daughter

Dorothy Davenport

Daughter

Arthur Rankin Davenport

Son

Actor.

Companions

Alice Davenport

Wife

Actor.

Phyllis Rankin

Wife

Actor.

Bibliography

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