
Dorothy Davenport
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Female
Birthday
1895-03-13
Day of Death
1977-10-12 (82 years old)
Place of Birth
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Dorothy Davenport
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.
Acting
(1934)
The Road to Ruin
as Mrs. Merrill (uncredited)
(1933)
Man Hunt
as Mrs. Scott
(1928)
Hellship Bronson
as Mrs. Bronson
(1927)
The Satin Woman
as Mrs. Jean Taylor (as Mrs. Wallace Reid)
(1925)
The Red Kimona
as Woman Telling the Story (uncredited)
(1924)
Broken Laws
as Joan Allen
(1923)
Human Wreckage
as Ethel MacFarland
(1920)
The Fighting Chance
as Leila Mortimer
(1918)
His Extra Bit
as The Wife
(1917)
Mothers of Men
as Clara Madison
(1917)
Treason
as Luella Brysk
(1917)
The Scarlet Crystal
as Marie Delys
(1917)
The Girl and the Crisis
as Ellen Wilmot
(1917)
The Squaw Man's Son
as Edith, Lady Effington
(1916)
The Way of the World
as Beatrice Farley
(1916)
The Devil's Bondwoman
as Beverly Hope
(1916)
The Unattainable
as Bessie Gale
(1916)
A Yoke of Gold
as Carner
(1916)
Doctor Neighbor
as Hazel Rogers
(1916)
Black Friday
as Elionor Rossitor
(1916)
Barriers of Society
as Martha Gorham
(1916)
(1915)
The Unknown
as Nancy Preston
(1915)
Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo
as Grand Duchess Feodora
(1915)
In Humble Guise
as Grace Hunt
(1914)
The Den of Thieves
as Dorothy
(1914)
'Cross the Mexican Line
as Dorothy West
(1914)
Love's Western Flight
as Dorothy
(1914)
The Quack
as Mary Rohan
(1914)
The Voice of the Viola
as Dorothy
(1914)
A Flash in the Dark
as Mrs. Randall
(1914)
Passing of the Beast
as The Mountie's Wife
(1914)
(1914)
The Way of a Woman
as Dorothy
(1914)
The Test
as The Poor Man's Wife
(1914)
The Siren
as Renee
(1914)
The Mountaineer
as Dorothy - Jim's Sweetheart
(1914)
The Test of Manhood
as Ethel Crandall
(1914)
The Intruder
as The Woodsman's Sweetheart
(1914)
A Gypsy Romance
as Queen of the Gypsies
(1914)
Cupid Incognito
as Angela Graham
(1914)
Breed o' the Mountains
as Sue Jarvis
(1914)
The Heart of the Hills
as The Government Detective
(1914)
(1914)
The Wheel of Life
as The Prospector's Wife
(1914)
(1914)
The Skeleton
as Jack's Wife
(1914)
The Countess Betty's Mine
as Countess Betty Ardmore
(1914)
(1914)
Women and Roses
as Wallace's Mistress
(1914)
Fires of Conscience
as Ethel
(1914)
(1913)
The Cracksman's Reformation
as Dorothy
(1913)
Retribution
as Dorothy
(1913)
Pierre of the North
as Mary McKenzie - the Factor's Daughter
(1913)
A Cracksman Santa Claus
as Dot
(1913)
The Fires of Fate
as Dot - Wally's Sweetheart
(1913)
The Revelation
as Mrs. Burns
(1913)
(1913)
The Lightning Bolt
as Dot
(1913)
(1912)
Her Indian Hero
as Veda Mead
(1912)
His Only Son
as Jessie Carter
(1912)
A Brave Little Woman
as Clara Lyttell
(1910)
A Gold Necklace
as A Friend
(1910)
The Golden Supper
as Flower Girl
Crew
(1955)
Footsteps in the Fog
Screenplay
(1951)
Rhubarb
Screenplay
(1949)
Impact
Writer
(1948)
Who Killed Doc Robbin?
Screenplay
(1947)
Curley
Story
(1941)
Redhead
Screenplay
(1940)
The Old Swimmin' Hole
Writer
(1940)
On the Spot
Screenplay
(1940)
Haunted House
Screenplay
(1940)
Drums of the Desert
Screenplay
(1940)
Tomboy
Story
(1938)
Prison Break
Screenplay
(1937)
A Bride for Henry
Producer
(1937)
Paradise Isle
Producer
(1935)
Honeymoon Limited
Producer, Screenplay
(1935)
Women Must Dress
Story, Producer
(1934)
The Road to Ruin
Director, Writer
(1934)
The Woman Condemned
Director
(1934)
Redhead
Producer
(1933)
Sucker Money
Director
(1932)
The Racing Strain
Story
(1929)
Linda
Director
(1925)
The Red Kimona
Director, Writer, Producer
(1923)
Human Wreckage
Writer, Producer, Director