Harry Fox

Harry Fox, born Arthur Carringford on May 25, 1882, in Pomona, California, was an American actor, dancer, and comedian whose career spanned vaudeville, Broadway, film, and early sound recordings. He died on July 20, 1959.

Fox is historically associated with the Fox Trot dance, to which his name has been linked as a source. A reference to the dance appears in F. Leslie Clendenen's "Dance Mad," published August 15, 1914, where page 163 includes the notation "FOX TROT No.2 (as danced by Mr Fox)."

His Broadway career ran from 1912 to 1925 and included appearances in both musicals and plays. In 1915, he appeared opposite Nora Bayes in Made in America. Additional Broadway credits include the musical Stop! Look! Listen!, the musical Oh, Look!, the revue George White's Scandals of 1922, and Round the Town.

Beyond the stage, Fox made recordings of popular songs and appeared in silent films, among them the serial Beatrice Fairfax, featuring Grace Darling. During the early sound era, he appeared in talking short films including Harry Fox and His American Beauties and The Fox and the Bee, the latter made with his partner and wife Beatrice. By the 1930s, his prominence had faded, and he took on uncredited bit parts in films such as Fugitive in the Sky (1936) while also working as a tester at an aircraft plant. He received a screen credit for Talent Scout in 1937.

In the 1920s, Fox was briefly married to one of the Dolly Sisters, performers associated with Florenz Ziegfeld. He was still living in 1945 when the biographical film The Dolly Sisters was released, a picture that depicted the marriage, a subsequent divorce, and a later reunion following Jenny Dolly's accident. Fox was also the third husband of actress Evelyn Brent.