1866-1949
Born Harold George Bryant Davenport in Canton, PA (some sources cite NYC, this is not correct information, Canton was the destination of his family for holidays--their regular residence was in Philadelphia). He came from a large and very prosperous line of stage actors. Both of his parents were actors, with his English mother being the a direct descendant of the famous 18th century stage actor Jack Johnson. His sister Fanny also became a successful actress. Another sister, Lillie, went onto be a successful opera singer. "Harry," an obvious nickname from his first name, debuted on the stage as a child. He acted from the time he was 6 years of age all the way up until his death, some 77 years later. He made film debut in 1913 at the ripe age of 47; many sources list 1914 and his age as 48, but they are leaving out his part as "The Doctor" in Kenton's Heir. His next film (often mistaken as his debut) was Too Many Husbands (1914), were he fills the "older gentleman" role of "Uncle Crane." In fact, most of his film career was taken up with portrayal of older character/supporting roles; he would go on to be the go-to actor for old men characters in the 1930's--so much so, that he was once dubbed "the hardest working old man in Hollywood." Bette Davis at the time referred to him as "without a doubt, ... the greatest character actor of all time." Once he made his film debut, worked steadily up through 1916, but then started to get disenchanted with silent film work; being from one of the highest pedigree of stage actors, he went back to the stage and only made a few films up through 1921, when he retired from film acting all together throughout the 1920's. In the film world, and up to this point, his biggest mark came as "Mr. Jarr" in a series of "Jarr Family" films in 1915--the first of which was The Jarr Family Discovers Harlem, released in March. He re-entered film acting 1930 with the silent era firmly over. In all he would star in over 160's films before his death. Certainly, the most famous film in which he appeared was Gone With The Wind, appearing as Dr. Meade (on the set of the film, cast and crew honored his then 67 years as an actor with an actor's chair). The same year that he first appeared in film, 1913, he was part of the founding of what became the Actor's Equity Association--the association came about after the failing of a union charter for actors in all fields, including motion pictures, that had been founded in the 1890's--that charter he was directly involved in founding, made up of--mostly--exploited Broadway actors. Davenport himself though was not a pension kind of man, which is why he insisted on continuing to work right up to his death on the 9th of August in 1949 at the age of 83. Of his 160+ film acting credits, two-thirds of them came after he re-entered the motion picture business at the age of 64, one year away from our current retirement age. He appeared in five films in the final year of his life, the last of which was the Bing Crosby film Riding High was released in April of 1950 eight months after his death. He is buried in an unmarked grave at Kensico Cemetery located in Valhalla, Westchester Co., New York. Davenport's extended family had extensive connections to the motion picture industry. Davenport was married twice, both times to actresses; first to Alice Davenport and finally to Phyllis Rankin. Other relations include: Dorothy Davenport (daughter) Kate Davenport (daughter), Arthur Rankin (step son), Wallace Reid (son-in-law), Doris Rankin (sister-in-law), Gladys Rankin/Mrs. Sidney Drew, McKee Rankin (father-in-law), Wallace Reid Jr. (grandson); not to mention former brother-in-law of Lionel, Ethel and John Barrymore--to name but just a few (he even has great-great grandchildren involved in the business currently). Quite the legacy!
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| [Source: Fritz Tauber (Find a Grave)] |
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| [Source: Fritz Tauber (Find a Grave)] |
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