Donald Meek
Encyclopedia
Donald Meek was a Scottish-born American character actor
. He first worked as a stage actor and later became a film actor, starring in several movies including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
, Little Miss Broadway
, and State Fair
. Before becoming an actor, he fought in the Spanish-American War
and contracted yellow fever
which caused him to lose his hair. He was cast as timid, worrisome characters in many of his films, and is perhaps best known for his roles as Mr. Poppins in Frank Capra
's You Can't Take It With You
and as Samuel Peacock in John Ford
's Stagecoach.
From 1931 through 1932 Meek was featured as criminologist Dr. Crabtree, in a series of twelve Warner Brothers two-reel short subjects written by S. S. Van Dine
.
, and was interred in the Fairmount Mausoleum
in Denver, Colorado
's Fairmount Cemetery
. A prolific film actor in over 100 Hollywood movies during its Golden Age, he received a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
.
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
. He first worked as a stage actor and later became a film actor, starring in several movies including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938 film)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a 1938 American drama film directed by Norman Taurog. The screenplay by John V.A. Weaver was based on the classic 1876 novel by Mark Twain.-Plot:...
, Little Miss Broadway
Little Miss Broadway
Little Miss Broadway is a 1938 American musical film directed by Irving Cummings. The screenplay was written by Harry Tugend and Jack Yellen. The film stars Shirley Temple in a story about a theatrical boarding house and its occupants, and was originally titled Little Lady of Broadway...
, and State Fair
State Fair (1945 film)
State Fair is a 1945 film directed by Walter Lang. The film a musical adaptation of the 1933 film of the same name, with original music by Rodgers and Hammerstein. The film starred Jeanne Crain, Dana Andrews, Dick Haymes, Vivian Blaine, Fay Bainter and Charles Winninger...
. Before becoming an actor, he fought in the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
and contracted yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
which caused him to lose his hair. He was cast as timid, worrisome characters in many of his films, and is perhaps best known for his roles as Mr. Poppins in Frank Capra
Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...
's You Can't Take It With You
You Can't Take It with You (film)
You Can't Take It With You Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. The cast includes James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore and Edward Arnold....
and as Samuel Peacock in John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
's Stagecoach.
From 1931 through 1932 Meek was featured as criminologist Dr. Crabtree, in a series of twelve Warner Brothers two-reel short subjects written by S. S. Van Dine
S. S. Van Dine
S. S. Van Dine was the pseudonym of Willard Huntington Wright , a U.S art critic and author. He created the once immensely popular fictional detective Philo Vance, who first appeared in books in the 1920s, then in movies and on the radio.-Early life and career:Willard Huntington Wright was born...
.
Death
Donald Meek died on Monday, 18 November 1946 in Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, and was interred in the Fairmount Mausoleum
Fairmount Mausoleum (Denver, Colorado)
Fairmount Mausoleum is a public mausoleum at Fairmount Cemetery in Denver, Colorado. The building was designed by architects Frederick E. Mountjoy and Francis W. Frewan...
in Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
's Fairmount Cemetery
Fairmount Cemetery (Denver, Colorado)
Fairmount Cemetery in Denver, Colorado was founded in 1890 and is Denver's second oldest operating cemetery after Riverside Cemetery. It was designed by German landscape architect Reinhard Schuetze...
. A prolific film actor in over 100 Hollywood movies during its Golden Age, he received a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
.
Partial filmography
- Six Cylinder LoveSix Cylinder LoveSix Cylinder Love is a 1923 silent film comedy produced and distributed by Fox Film and directed by Elmer Clifton. It is based on a popular 1921 Broadway play and stars Ernest Truex from the play. Also appearing in the film from the Broadway play were Donald Meek and Ralph Sipperly...
(1923) - The Hole in the WallThe Hole in the WallThe Hole in the Wall is a 1929 film directed by Robert Florey, and starring Claudette Colbert and Edward G. Robinson. This film marks the first appearance of Edward G. Robinson as a gangster.-Cast:*Claudette Colbert as Jean Oliver*Edward G...
(1929) - Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage PatchMrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage PatchMrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch is a 1934 comedy-genre film, directed by Norman Taurog, and based on the 1901 novel by Alice Hegan Rice. It also appeared as a radio series between 1936 and 1938. It is one of two movies that feature a rare film performance by famed Broadway stage actress Pauline...
(1934) - Romance in ManhattanRomance in ManhattanRomance in Manhattan is an American comedy/romance film directed by Stephen Roberts, starring Francis Lederer and Ginger Rogers, and released by RKO Radio Pictures.- Plot :...
(1935) - The Gilded LilyThe Gilded Lily (1935 film)The Gilded Lily is a 1935 film made by Paramount Pictures, directed by Wesley Ruggles, and starring Claudette Colbert, Fred MacMurray, Ray Milland and C. Aubrey Smith...
(1935) - Mark of the VampireMark of the VampireMark of the Vampire is a 1935 horror film, starring Lionel Barrymore, Elizabeth Allan, Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill, and Jean Hersholt and directed by Tod Browning...
(1935) - The Informer (1935)
- She Couldn't Take ItShe Couldn't Take ItShe Couldn't Take It is a 1935 comedy film made at Columbia Pictures, directed by Tay Garnett, written by C. Graham Baker, Gene Towne and Oliver H.P...
(1935) - Peter IbbetsonPeter IbbetsonPeter Ibbetson is an American black-and-white drama film released in 1935 and directed by Henry Hathaway.The picture is based on a novel by George du Maurier, first published in 1891. In 1917, du Maurier's story was adapted into a very successful Broadway play starring John Barrymore, Lionel...
(1935) - Kind LadyKind Lady (1935 film)Kind Lady is a 1935 drama film starring Aline MacMahon and Basil Rathbone. It is based on the play of the same name by Edward Chodorov and a short story called "The Silver Mask" by Hugh Walpole....
(1935) - Captain Blood (1935)
- The Bride Comes HomeThe Bride Comes HomeThe Bride Comes Home is a 1935 comedy film made by Paramount Pictures, directed by Wesley Ruggles, and written by Claude Binyon and Elisabeth Sanxay Holding.-Plot:...
(1935) - Old HutchOld HutchOld Hutch is a 1936 American romantic comedy film directed by J. Walter Ruben and starring Wallace Beery as a man who finds $100,000 in the depths of the Depression.-Cast:*Wallace Beery as Hutch Hutchins*Eric Linden as Dave Jolly...
(1936) - Love on the RunLove on the Run (1936 film)Love on the Run is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer feature film starring Joan Crawford, Franchot Tone, and Clark Gable in a story about rival newspaper correspondents assigned to cover the marriage of a socialite. The screenplay by Gladys Hurlbut, John Lee Mahin and Manuel Seff was based upon the story by...
(1936) - Pennies from HeavenPennies from Heaven (1936 film)Pennies from Heaven is a 1936 musical comedy film starring Bing Crosby and featuring Louis Armstrong in a supporting role. The movie was directed by Norman Z. McLeod and the screenplay was written by Jo Swerling from a story by William Rankin based on the novel The Peacock Feather by Katherine...
(1936) - Maid of SalemMaid of SalemMaid of Salem is a 1937 film made by Paramount Pictures, directed by Frank Lloyd, and starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray.-Plot:It tells the story of a young girl in Salem, Massachusetts, 1692, who has an affair with adventurer...
(1937) - ParnellParnell (film)Parnell is a 1937 MGM film starring Clark Gable as Charles Stewart Parnell, the famous Irish politician. It is considered Gable's worst film, and is classified in The Fifty Worst Films of All Time.-Production:...
(1937) - The Toast of New YorkThe Toast of New YorkThe Toast of New York is a 1937 American biopic starring Edward Arnold, Cary Grant, Frances Farmer, and Jack Oakie. The film is a fictionalized account of the lives of financiers James Fisk and Edward S. Stokes...
(1937) - Artists and Models (1937)
- You Can't Take It With YouYou Can't Take It with You (film)You Can't Take It With You Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. The cast includes James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore and Edward Arnold....
(1938) - The Adventures of Tom SawyerThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938 film)The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a 1938 American drama film directed by Norman Taurog. The screenplay by John V.A. Weaver was based on the classic 1876 novel by Mark Twain.-Plot:...
(1938) - Little Miss BroadwayLittle Miss BroadwayLittle Miss Broadway is a 1938 American musical film directed by Irving Cummings. The screenplay was written by Harry Tugend and Jack Yellen. The film stars Shirley Temple in a story about a theatrical boarding house and its occupants, and was originally titled Little Lady of Broadway...
(1938) - Jesse JamesJesse James (1939 film)Jesse James is a western movie directed by Henry King and starring Tyrone Power, Henry Fonda, Nancy Kelly, and Randolph Scott. Written by Nunnally Johnson, the film is loosely based on the life of the notorious outlaw for which the film derives its name...
(1939) - Stagecoach (1939)
- Young Mr. LincolnYoung Mr. LincolnYoung Mr. Lincoln is a 1939 partly fictionalized biography about the early life of President Abraham Lincoln, directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda. Ford and producer Darryl F. Zanuck fought for control of the film, to the point where Ford destroyed unwanted takes for fear the studio...
(1939) - My Little ChickadeeMy Little ChickadeeMy Little Chickadee is a Universal comedy/western motion picture starring Mae West and W. C. Fields, with Joseph Calleia, Ruth Donnelly, Margaret Hamilton, Donald Meek, Willard Robertson, Dick Foran, George Moran, William B. Davidson, and Addison Richards. It was directed by Edward F. Cline...
(1940) - The Man from DakotaThe Man from DakotaThe Man from Dakota is a 1940 film directed by Leslie Fenton and starring Wallace Beery. The movie was adapted by Laurence Stallings from the novel by MacKinlay Kantor.-Cast:*Wallace Beery as Bar Barstow*John Howard as Oliver Clark...
(1940) - Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940)
- The Return of Frank JamesThe Return of Frank JamesThe Return of Frank James is a 1940 western film directed by Fritz Lang and starring Henry Fonda and Gene Tierney. It is a sequel to Henry King's 1939 film Jesse James. Written by Sam Hellman, the film loosely follows the life of Frank James following the death of his outlaw brother, Jesse James at...
(1940) - Third Finger, Left HandThird Finger, Left HandThird Finger, Left Hand is a 1940 romantic comedy film. A woman pretends to be married to fend off would-be suitors and jealous wives, then regrets her deception when she meets an artist.-Plot:...
(1940) - HullabalooHullabaloo (film)Hullabaloo is a 1940 musical comedy film directed by Edwin L. Marin and written by Nat Perrin. It stars Frank Morgan, Virginia Grey, Dan Dailey, Billie Burke, Donald Meek, Reginald Owen and Connie Gilchrist...
(1940) - Barnacle BillBarnacle Bill (1941 film)Barnacle Bill is a 1941 feature film starring Wallace Beery and Marjorie Main. The screen comedy was directed by Richard Thorpe.-Cast:* Wallace Beery as Bill Johansen* Marjorie Main as Marge Cavendish* Leo Carillo as Pico Rodriguez...
(1941) - A Woman's FaceA Woman's FaceA Woman's Face is a 1941 drama film directed by George Cukor, starring Joan Crawford, Melvyn Douglas and Conrad Veidt. It tells the story of Anna Holm, a facially disfigured blackmailer, who because of her appearance despises everyone she encounters...
(1941) - Babes on BroadwayBabes on BroadwayBabes on Broadway is a 1941 musical film starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland and directed by Busby Berkeley, with Vincente Minnelli directing Garland's big solo numbers. The film, which features Fay Bainter and Virginia Weidler, was the third in the "Backyard Musical" series about kids who put...
(1941) - Tortilla FlatTortilla Flat (film)Tortilla Flat is a 1942 film with Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr, John Garfield, Frank Morgan, Akim Tamiroff, and Sheldon Leonard based on the novel by John Steinbeck. It was directed by Victor Fleming.- Plot :...
(1942) - The Omaha TrailThe Omaha TrailThe Omaha Trail is a 1942 film directed by Edward Buzzell. It stars James Craig and Pamela Blake.-Cast:* James Craig as Pat Candel* Pamela Blake as Julie Santley* Dean Jagger as Pipsestone Ross* Edward Ellis as Mr...
(1942) - Keeper of the FlameKeeper of the Flame (film)Keeper of the Flame is a dramatic film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer . It stars Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Hepburn plays the widow of a famous civic leader who has suddenly died in an accident. Tracy plays a former war correspondent who intends to write a flattering biography of the dead man,...
(1942) - Air Raid WardensAir Raid WardensAir Raid Wardens is a 1943 Laurel and Hardy comedy film. This was the first of their films made at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.-Synopsis:Set during World War II, Stan and Ollie try their hand at various business ventures...
(1943) - Du Barry Was a LadyDuBarry Was a Lady (film)DuBarry Was a Lady is a 1943 Technicolor film, starring Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, and Gene Kelly, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is based on the 1939 stage musical of the same name....
(1943) - Lost AngelLost Angel (film)Lost Angel is a 1943 film starring Margaret O'Brien as a little orphan girl raised to be a genius. James Craig plays a reporter who shows her the world outside the Institute of Child Psychology.-Plot:...
(1943) - RationingRationing (1944 film)Rationing is a 1944 film starring Wallace Beery and Marjorie Main. The screen comedy was directed by Willis Goldbeck.-Cast:*Wallace Beery as Ben Barton*Marjorie Main as Iris Tuttle*Donald Meek as Wilfred Ball*Dorothy Morris as Dorothy Tuttle...
(1944) - Two Girls and a SailorTwo Girls and a SailorTwo Girls and a Sailor is a 1944 musical film about two singing sisters who are helped to set up a canteen to entertain soldiers by a mysterious wealthy admirer. It featured a host of celebrity performances, including Jimmy Durante doing his hallmark "Inka Dinka Doo", Gracie Allen, and Lena Horne...
(1944) - Bathing BeautyBathing BeautyBathing Beauty is a 1944 musical starring Red Skelton, Basil Rathbone and Esther Williams and directed by George Sidney.Although this was not William's screen debut, it was her first Technicolor musical. The film was initially to be titled "Mr. Co-Ed" with Red Skelton having top billing...
(1944) - Barbary Coast GentBarbary Coast GentBarbary Coast Gent is a 1944 film set in 1880s San Francisco's Barbary Coast and Nevada starring Wallace Beery. The movie was directed by Roy Del Ruth and features Beery's brother Noah Beery, Sr., John Carradine, and Chill Wills.-Cast:...
(1944) - The Thin Man Goes HomeThe Thin Man Goes HomeThe Thin Man Goes Home is a 1945 motion picture directed by Richard Thorpe. It is the fifth of the six Thin Man films starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Dashiell Hammett's dapper private detective Nick Charles and his wife Nora.-Plot:...
(1944) - State FairState Fair (1945 film)State Fair is a 1945 film directed by Walter Lang. The film a musical adaptation of the 1933 film of the same name, with original music by Rodgers and Hammerstein. The film starred Jeanne Crain, Dana Andrews, Dick Haymes, Vivian Blaine, Fay Bainter and Charles Winninger...
(1945) - Colonel Effingham's RaidColonel Effingham's RaidColonel Effingham's Raid is a 1946 comedy film made by 20th Century Fox, directed by Irving Pichel. The screenplay was written by Kathryn Scola, based on a novel by Berry Fleming. The music score is by Cyril J. Mockridge...
(1946) - Magic TownMagic TownMagic Town is a comedy film directed by William A. Wellman, starring James Stewart and Jane Wyman. It is one of the first films about the then-new science of public opinion polling...
(1947)