Harold George Bryant "Harry" Davenport (January 19, 1866 – August 9, 1949) was an American film and stage actor who worked in show business from the age of six until his death. After a long and prolific broadway career, he came to Hollywood in the 1930s and appeared in films including Gone with the Wind (1939), where he portrayed Dr. Meade. His specialty was playing grandfathers, judges, doctors, and ministers. Bette Davis called Davenport "without a doubt, (...) the greatest character actor of all time."

Biography

He married Alice Davenport in 1893. They had one daughter, Dorothy Davenport, who also became an actress. After divorcing Alice in 1896, he married actress Phyllis Rankin, that same year. They had three biological children, all actors: Ned Davenport, Ann Davenport, and Kate Davenport, and Harry also adopted Phyllis's son, Arthur Rankin (father of Arthur Rankin, Jr., founder of the Rankin/Bass animation studio). The 10 August 1949 Canton Sunday Telegram obituary noted that the couple were together until her death, contrary to reports that he divorced her and remarried. Through his marriage to Phyllis, he was the brother-in-law of Lionel Barrymore, who was married at the time to Phyllis' sister Doris. Phyllis's father, McKee Rankin, had been the top actor at the Arch Street Theater, which was run by Lionel's grandmother and Sidney's mother, Louisa Lane Drew. He was the grandfather of producer Dirk Wayne Summers, Arthur Rankin Jr. and Wallace Reid Jr. His granddaughter's name is Phyllis Gail Davenport who married Edwin Alton Brooks and had 3 children Caleb Brooks, Anna Brooks and Rachel Brooks. Caleb married Suzanne Marie Via and had 2 sons named Samuel Brooks and Theodore Brooks. Anna Brooks also had two children named Sadie Wood and Grace Ganoung.

After Phyllis's death, Davenport moved to Los Angeles and lived with his now-grown children. He died of a sudden heart attack at the age of 83, one hour after he inquired his agent Walter Herzbrun about a new film role. In the obituary, a newspaper called him the "white-haired character actor" with "the longest acting career in American history".

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