Harry Davenport

Harold George Bryant Davenport was born on January 19, 1866, in Boston, into a family with deep roots in the theatrical profession. His father, Edward Loomis Davenport, was a stage actor, and his mother, Fanny Vining Davenport, was an English actress descended from the 18th-century Irish stage actor Jack Johnson. His sister, Fanny Davenport, also pursued an acting career. Davenport entered show business at the age of five, making his stage debut in Damon and Pythias at the third Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, and he remained active in the profession until his death.

Davenport made his Broadway debut in The Voyage of Suzette in 1894 and continued performing on Broadway through 1935. Among his stage credits were the productions Topaze, The Jealous Moon, and Julius Caesar. Though originally associated with New York, New York, his Broadway career spanned four decades and encompassed numerous productions.

In 1913, Davenport co-founded the Actors' Equity Association alongside actor Eddie Foy. The original organization, known as the White Rats, was spearheaded by Davenport and emerged after a nine-month period during which actors united in opposition to their treatment by theater owners including the Shubert family and David Belasco. The resulting strike closed every Broadway theater, with the sole exception of those owned by George M. Cohan's company.

Also in 1913, Davenport began his film career at the age of 47, debuting in the silent short film Kenton's Heir. The following year he starred in Fogg's Millions alongside Rose Tapley, the first entry in a series of silent comedy shorts. Between 1915 and 1917 he also directed silent features and numerous shorts, among them many installments of the Mr. and Mrs. Jarr series.

Davenport transitioned to Hollywood in the 1930s, where he became one of the most recognizable character actors of the era, frequently cast as grandfathers, judges, doctors, and ministers. He portrayed Dr. Meade in Gone with the Wind in 1939, the same year he played the aged Louis XI of France in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which starred Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Hara, and Cedric Hardwicke. His other film appearances include Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent in 1940, The Bride Came C.O.D. in 1941, William A. Wellman's The Ox-Bow Incident in 1943, Kings Row in 1943 with Ronald Reagan, and Vincente Minnelli's Meet Me in St. Louis in 1944, in which he played the grandfather of Judy Garland's character. He also appeared as the great-uncle of characters played by Myrna Loy and Shirley Temple in The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer in 1947. Over the course of his film career, Davenport appeared in more than 160 productions. His final film, Frank Capra's Riding High, was released in 1950, after his death.

In his personal life, Davenport married Alice in 1893; the couple had one daughter, Dorothy Davenport, who became an actress, before divorcing in 1896. That same year he married actress Phyllis Rankin, with whom he had three biological children — Ned, Ann, and Kate — all of whom became actors. He also adopted Phyllis's son, Arthur Rankin, who was the father of Arthur Rankin Jr., founder of the Rankin/Bass animation studio. Through his marriage to Phyllis, Davenport became the brother-in-law of Lionel Barrymore, who was at that time married to Phyllis's sister Doris. Phyllis's father, McKee Rankin, had been the leading actor at the Arch Street Theater, which was operated by Louisa Lane Drew, the grandmother of Lionel Barrymore. Actress Anne Seymour and her brother, radio personality Bill Seymour, were Davenport's great-niece and great-nephew through their mother, May Davenport. Davenport was also the grandfather of producer Dirk Wayne Summers, Arthur Rankin Jr., and Wallace Reid Jr.

Following Phyllis's death, Davenport relocated to Los Angeles to live with his adult children. He died of a sudden heart attack on August 9, 1949, at the age of 83, one hour after inquiring with his agent, Walter Herzbrun, about a new film role. He was buried at Kensico Cemetery in Westchester County, New York. His obituary described him as the "white-haired character actor" with "the longest acting career in American history."