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Harry Davenport

During a career that spanned both the silent era and the talkies, Harry Davenport was often cast as grandfathers, doctors, judges, and ministers. He is best known for playing Dr. Meade in the Civil War epic "Gone with the Wind," 1939's Academy Award winner for Best Picture and the highest-grossing film of the Golden Age of American movies. During the making of "Gone with the Wind," the cast and crew honored Davenport's 69th year in show business by presenting him with a personalized actor's chair. After "Gone with the Wind"'s monumental success, Davenport was cast in a number of Oscar-caliber films, including 1939's "Hunchback of Notre Dame"; 1942's coming-of-age-drama "Kings Row"; and the 1943 western "The Ox-Bow Incident," as the sole voice of reason in a bloodthirsty lynch mob. Relegated to playing mostly older characters, Davenport continued acting in movies until his death in 1949 at the age of 83.