Harlan Briggs

Harlan Briggs (August 17, 1879 – January 26, 1952) was an American actor born in Blissfield, Michigan, who built a career spanning Vaudeville, Broadway, film, and television. A graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, Briggs chose acting over a legal career, beginning his stage work in Vaudeville around the turn of the 20th century.

Briggs made his Broadway debut in 1926 in the drama Up the Line and worked steadily on stage through 1935, appearing in productions including Under This Roof, Sweet Charity, The Five Million, and The Flying Gerardos. On August 6, 1929, he took on the featured role of G. A. Appleby in It's a Wise Child at the Belasco Theatre, earning a successful run. In 1934, he played Tubby Pearson in Dodsworth, which opened at the Shubert Theatre on February 24 of that year starring Walter Huston as Samuel Dodsworth. The production ran for 147 performances before a six-week hiatus, then reopened at the Shubert on August 20 and ran for an additional 168 performances. When Samuel Goldwyn acquired the rights to the play, Briggs was one of only two members of the original Broadway cast invited to reprise their roles in the film adaptation, the other being Huston in the title role.

Briggs shifted his focus to film work for much of the late 1930s before returning to Broadway in the 1940s, balancing stage and screen commitments throughout that decade. Among his Broadway appearances in the 1940s, his role as Constable Small in Ramshackle Inn proved particularly notable, as the production marked the Broadway debut of ZaSu Pitts. His 1947 appearance in The Story of Mary Surratt represented his 400th play. His Broadway career extended through 1948.

Over the course of his screen career, Briggs appeared in more than 100 films. His most recognized film role was Dr. Stall in the 1940 W. C. Fields comedy The Bank Dick. Additional film credits include After the Thin Man (1936), Stella Dallas (1937), Having Wonderful Time (1938), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), My Little Chickadee (1940), Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940), State Fair (1945), Night and Day (1946), Little Women (1949), Goodbye, My Fancy (1951), and Carrie (1952). The final film on which he worked was The Sea Hornet, shot during April and May of 1951 and released later that year. He also made one television appearance toward the end of his career.

Briggs married actress Viola Scott on July 3, 1914, and the couple had four sons. He died on January 26, 1952, at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital from complications following a heart attack, and was buried at Glen Haven Memorial Park in Los Angeles County, California.