Dorothy Davenport | WatchedThis
Dorothy Davenport
Acting
Biography
Dorothy Davenport (March 13, 1895 – October 12, 1977) was an American actress, screenwriter, film director, and producer who appeared in silent film for Biograph Studios under the direction of D.W. Griffith. While filming on location in Oregon for The Valley of the Giants (1919), Wallace Reid was injured in a train wreck. As a remedy for the pain from this injury, studio doctors administered large doses of morphine to Reid to which he became addicted. Reid's health slowly grew worse over the next few years, and he died of the addiction in 1923. After Reid's death, Davenport and Thomas Ince co-produced the film Human Wreckage (1923) with James Kirkwood, Sr., Bessie Love and Lucille Ricksen, a film that dealt with the dangers of narcotics addiction. Davenport took Human Wreckage on a roadshow engagement, followed up with another "social conscience" picture about excessive mother-love called Broken Laws in 1924, again billed as "Mrs. Wallace Reid" to capitalize on her husband's notorious death. She then produced The Red Kimona (1925) about white slavery. On screen she opens the film in silent narration or prologue. The details of the latter film were so realistic that Davenport was successfully sued. She would later direct Linda (1929), Sucker Money (1933), Road to Ruin (1934), and The Woman Condemned (1934) and worked as a producer, writer, and dialogue director. Among her last credits are co-author of the screenplay for Footsteps in the Fog (1955), and as dialogue director for The First Traveling Saleslady (1956) with Ginger Rogers. She and husband Wallace Reid had two children. She was married to him until his death on January 18, 1923. She never remarried. Dorothy Davenport died at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in 1977 in Woodland Hills, California. She is interred with her husband in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale. Description above from the Wikipedia article Dorothy Davenport, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography Movies
Acting
The Fighting Chance
Sylvia Landis promises to marry the wealthy but unprincipled Quarrier because of his social standing. Avarice is the only emotion that Sylvia feels towards her fiance, and when she meets Stephen Siward, a young man afflicted with alcoholism, she falls in love.
Pierre of the North
Pierre and Baptiste, French-Canadian half-breed trappers, are enamored of Mary, the factor's daughter. Both men propose to the girl, both are refused. Baptiste, mad with jealous rage, abducts the girl and carries her off to a lonely cabin in the wilderness. She defies him, throws his proffered ring at him and is chained to the floor to change her mind.
His Only Son
Bob Madden returns home slightly intoxicated and his father angrily commands him to leave the place and shift for himself. The next morning he goes, leaving his father a note: "Dear Dad, I am going out West and try to make a man of myself. I hope some day you will be proud of me. Your son. Bob."
The Heart of the Hills
Two brothers live together in the Kentucky mountains. Wally, the younger, is a wood-cutter, while Phil is a cripple. The brothers receive word from a city physician that Phil can recover from his infirmity only by means of an operation which will cost $800. The amount, however, is far larger than they ever expect to own at one time. In the meantime, Nan Leslie, of the U.S. Revenue Service, is detailed to go into the mountain districts of Kentucky and get evidence against a gang of moonshiners.
The Wheel of Life
The husband and his wife live alone in the mountains, where he is working out a claim. A stranger from a distant mine is injured in the vicinity. The husband nurses him back to health. During his convalescence the stranger persuades the wife to elope with him.
Fires of Conscience
Two men meet in the desert. One is in search of gold and the other seeks solace and heartsease for an unrequited love. Although they are unknown to each other, each loves the same girl, Ray, the prospector, is the chosen suitor and around his neck he carries the girl's picture. They live together in the wilds and become friends, until one night Tom sees the picture in the locket around Ray's neck. Tom's jealousy prompts him to kill Ray, but gentle thoughts of Ethel restrain his hand.
The Greater Devotion
The girl has three suitors: a young Mexican, who symbolizes love, a cripple, who symbolizes devotion, and a wealthy haciendiero, who symbolizes wealth. Despite the protests of Love and the pain of Devotion, the girl is given in marriage to Wealth by her father. A year lapses and the girl has suffered by her father's choosing. Wealth is faithless to her and heaps upon her head humiliation and indignity and finally brutality. Love returns to her and after listening to her story swears that he will kill Wealth, but Devotion restrains him with the advice that if he kills Wealth he can never have the girl. To insure the girl's happiness Devotion kills Wealth himself and then takes his own life.
A Flash in the Dark
Randall is a rich mine owner whose business affairs cause him to neglect his somewhat frivolous wife. There is a mutual friend whom Randall carelessly allows to entertain his wife. As a result, the friend pays more than natural attentions to the woman. The three visit one of Randall's mines. The wife and friend go down the mining shaft in a bucket. While they are yet underground, a quantity of dynamite explodes. The mine is filled with poisonous fumes.
Breed o' the Mountains
Joe Mayfield and Sue Jarvis are the children of two families in the Blue Ridge Mountains, which have been at variance for years. Brady, Dorothy's brother, has had an affair with a simple mountain maid. She, unable to care for the child, lays it with a note, at what she thinks is Brady's door. In reality, she has taken it to Mayfield's cabin. He finds it, but out of love for Sue, and to spare her the reflected disgrace, he cares for it himself, keeping silent as to its parentage. The love between himself and Sue ripens. Sue is ready to forget the feud and marry him. In order to prevent this, Brady, not knowing whence the child came, accuses Mayfield of being its parent. The accused is silent and Sue turns away. Mayfield, in the meantime, is unable to stand the fruits of injustice and the taunts of Brady. He tells Brady the true parentage of the child. Brady is softened. He tells Mayfield he is going to find its mother and "Make it right."
The Voice of the Viola
This is a story of the love of two brothers for the same girl.
Production
Impact
After surviving a murder attempt, an auto magnate goes into hiding so his wife can pay for the crime.
Rhubarb
Rich, eccentric T.J. Banner adopts a feral cat who becomes an affectionate pet he names Rhubarb. Then T.J. dies, leaving to Rhubarb most of his money and a pro baseball team, the Brooklyn Loons. When the team protests, publicist Eric Yeager convinces them Rhubarb is good luck. But Eric's fiancée Polly seems to be allergic to cats, and the team's success may mean new hazards for Rhubarb.
Who Killed Doc Robbin?
A group of people find themselves trapped in a creepy mansion, complete with secret passageways, a mad doctor and a murderous gorilla.
Footsteps in the Fog
A Victorian-era murder mystery about a parlour maid who discovers that her employer may have killed his first wife.
The Old Swimmin' Hole
Teenager Betty Elliott has decided to take over the business and social affairs of her father Doc Elliott. She thinks her father should marry the widowed mother, Julie Harper, of her boyfriend Chris Harper. Doc has been a real friend and father to Chris, who, under his guidance, has learned to take care of all the sick animals in town, but lack of money keeps the widow from sending Chris on to finish high school and medical training is out of the question. Wealthy Grandpa Harper sends his attorney Baker to tell Mrs. Harper that all of Jimmy's dreams could be realized if the widow, whom the grandfather dislikes, would give up custody of her son. The lawyer also begins to court Julie and this throws a kink in Betty's plans to see her father and the widow get married. Written by Les Adams
Curley
The students of Lakeview Elementary devise comedic ways to torment their new teacher.
The Road to Ruin
A young girl gets involved with a crowd that smokes marijuana, drinks and has sex. She winds up an alcoholic, pregnant drug addict and is forced to get an abortion.
On the Spot
Frankie Kelly is the soda jerk and embryo scientist in Midvales only drugstore. Two murders and an attempted killing suddenly swing Midvale into national prominence. Frankie and his pal, Jefferson, become involved when a wounded gangster starts to tell them where $300,000 in stolen loot is hidden, but he is murdered before he can give them all of the information. The search is on.
Sucker Money
A phony spiritualist hypnotizes the daughter of a wealthy banker in a scheme to swindle the banker out of his money. A reporter investigating the swami discovers the plot, determines to expose it.
The Red Kimona
A woman is abandoned by her lover and prostitution is the only way she has to survive.
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