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Saturday April 13, 1940 –Canton Actor Starring at 74!-His name is Harry Davenport and you’ve seen him often of late in pictures. He comes from a family famous for its connection with the stage. He’s been an actor since he was 5 and the story of his remarkable career, well illustrated, is a feature you’ll want to read tomorrow in the Sunday Telegram feature.

[According to an Internet site, he was born Jan. 19, 1866 in New York City and was brought up in Philadelphia.  He died August 9, 1949 – DFS]

Harry Davenport of Canton, Pa., the Grand Old Man of the American stage and screen, died yesterday in Hollywood after a heart attack.
Eighty-three, he had spent 78 years in the land of make believe that lies behind the footlights of the stage and in the bustle and glare of movie sets.
The courtly, handsome old trouper was one of the busiest men in the movie colony.  And also one of the most popular.  His movie roles ranged from the tired surgeon in “Gone with the Wind” to the sprightly grandfather in “Meet me in St. Louis.”  He had been cast in well over 100 pictures, a supporting player of rare skill and a helpful friend of aspiring young actors.
In 1935, after the death of his wife, Phyllis Rankin Davenport, he turned the key on his red brick home in Canton and never returned.  The home, next to the Mayo’s famous “Crockett Lodge,” stood idle many years.  Lately it was sold. The Davenports also owned  a colonial brick tavern south of Canton near Leolyn where for a time they operated a tea room.

Harry Davenport was born in Philadelphia, his parents being Edwin Loomis Davenport and Fanny Vining Davenport.  They were married in London just a century ago – Jan. 8, 1849 – after a courtship, which found them together in many stage shows.  They continued to appear together until death separated them.
The Davenport’s connection with Canton had its origin in the old days of Minnequa, the spring-resort which attracted many of the nation’s celebrities.  Edwin L. Davenport and his family went to Minnequa in the early 1880s and purchased the beautiful old brick home next to Crockett Lodge.
Harry Davenport grew up in the stage tradition.  His parents were of the stage and next door was the Mayo mansion built in considerable part with the earnings of Frank Mayo’s great role – Davy Crockett.  It was from this that the place derived its name.
Davenport’s first appearance on the stage was at the age of 5 at the Chestnut St. Theater in Philadelphia.  His pay was $1.95 in coins of every denomination then current and all dated 1871.  Late a $5 goldpiece was added as a “bonus.”  Harry Davenport never parted with his first pay, however hard the times became.  He kept the old coins in a safe deposit box and often said a million dollars couldn’t purchase them.  The role in which he started was as Damon’s son in the then-popular “Damon and Pythias.”

Up and down the country toured Davenport, sometimes in the money and sometimes not.  His first visit to Hollywood was in 1885 when the region was a place where people picked holly for the Christmas trade.  He was to return a half-century later to become one of its most respected residents.
Many of his roles brought him to Elmira in the premieres of John Golden’s shows.  Unforgettable was his part in “Three Wise Fools,” one of the great plays which opened here in the golden days of Elmira’s theatrical past.
The early 1930’s brought hard sledding to the Davenports.  Harry Davenport’s chin didn’t drop although his fortunes did.  He ranged the hills, picking wild strawberries, which were made into preserves by his talented wife.  These preserves found a ready market in New York and the enterprise grew until Davenport recruited boys to help him with the picking.  He offered bicycles as prizes.  It was about this time that the tea room was opened in the old tavern south of Canton.

In 1935, Mrs. Davenport died in a Williamsport hospital.  The funeral was held in the tree-shaded home so long associated with the Davenport name.  When the services were over, a broken-hearted, aging man whom many thought was through, turned the key and never looked again upon the home.  For him it was haunted by the echoes of Mrs. Davenport’s rich voice and the sound of the loom on which she wove articles of rich beauty.
Harry Davenport started for the coast in a decrepit car.  Many thought he’d never make it – but he did.  He spent 63 weeks playing in “Three Men on a Horse” in Chicago and then moved coastward to a place among filmdom’s great.
In Hollywood he lived with his children, Edward, Date and Ann Davenport and Mrs. Dorothy Davenport Reid, widow of actor Wallace Reid.

His earnings soared as his free-lancing success brought growing demand for his services.
The old trouper didn’t change with his greatest success any more than he changed when the going was tough.
At one of his birthday parties, a friend asked why he kept working so hard.
“I’m saving my money for my old age,” quipped the white-haired actor with the smile that millions came to know upon the screen.
His hair was so completely white that it had to be tinted pink for his movie work.  Otherwise, it looked metallic and artificial.  Only artificial color could make it look real.  He liked to joke about it.
Canton friends heard often from the man who picked strawberries in the depression.  He promised to come back and planned a couple of times to do so.  Screen commitments interfered, at least he said they did.  Friends accepted the excuse but some didn’t believe it.  They were sure he didn’t want to break his heart again on the memory-haunted red brick house.
 

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Published On Tri-Counties Site On 22 MAR 2006  By Joyce M. Tice Email: Joyce M. Tice You are the  visitor since the counter was installed on  22 MAR 2006