Otis Harlan

Otis Harlan (December 29, 1865 – January 20, 1940) was an American actor, comedian, and voice actor born in Zanesville, Ohio. He married Nellie Harvey and had a daughter named Marion. Harlan was the uncle of Kenneth Harlan, a leading man of the silent film era.

Harlan's stage career began in the early 1890s, with an appearance in Victor Herbert's The Magic Knight in 1893. His Broadway work spanned from 1894 to 1915 and included a range of productions across multiple genres. Among his credits were the burlesque Star and Garter, the musicals Broadway to Tokio, A Parisian Model, and The Girl from Utah, as well as the play My Innocent Boy. In 1911, he starred in Little Boy Blue on Broadway. That same year he was also active in vaudeville, performing in Irving Berlin's ragtime musicals.

Harlan transitioned into film and continued working steadily through the sound era. In 1929, he took on the role of Cap'n Andy in the part-talkie film adaptation of Show Boat, and additionally appeared as the Master of Ceremonies in the sound prologue accompanying that film. In 1935, he portrayed Starveling in Max Reinhardt's film version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. In 1937, Harlan provided the voice of Happy, one of the Seven Dwarfs, in the Disney animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, making him the earliest-born actor to appear in a Disney film and one of the earliest-born known American voice actors. That same year he also appeared in the Our Gang short Roamin' Holiday.

Harlan died in January 1940 at the age of 74, becoming the first cast member from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to pass away.