Harry Carey
Biography
Henry DeWitt Carey II (January 16, 1878 - September 21, 1947) was an American actor and one of silent film's earliest superstars, usually cast as a Western hero. One of his best known performances is as the president of the United States Senate in the drama film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
He was the father of Harry Carey Jr., who was also a prominent actor. Born in New York City to a Judge of Special Sessions who was also president of a sewing machine company. Grew up on City Island, New York. Attended Hamilton Military Academy and turned down an appointment to West Point to attend New York University, where his law school classmates included future New York City mayor James J. Walker. After a boating accident which led to pneumonia, Carey wrote a play while recuperating and toured the country in it for three years, earning a great deal of money, all of which evaporated after his next play was a failure.
In 1911, his friend Henry B. Walthall introduced him to director D.W. Griffith, for whom Carey was to make many films. Carey married twice, the second time to actress Olive Fuller Golden (aka Olive Carey, who introduced him to future director John Ford. Carey influenced Universal Studios head Carl Laemmle to use Ford as a director, and a partnership was born that lasted until a rift in the friendship in 1921. During this time, Carey grew into one of the most popular Western stars of the early motion picture, occasionally writing and directing films as well. In the '30s he moved slowly into character roles and was nominated for an Oscar for one of them, the President of the Senate in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). He worked once more with Ford, in The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936), and appeared once with his son, Harry Carey Jr., in Howard Hawks' Red River (1948). He died after a protracted bout with emphysema and cancer. Ford dedicated his remake of 3 Godfathers (1948) "To Harry Carey--Bright Star Of The Early Western Sky."
Acting (175 movies)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
1939
Red River
1948
Angel and the Badman
1947
Beyond Tomorrow
1940
Golden Saddles, Silver Spurs
2000
Duel in the Sun
1946
Desperate Trails
1921
Outside the Three-Mile Limit
1940
The Freeze-Out
1921
The Great Moment
1944
Bullet Proof
1920
The Musketeers of Pig Alley
1912
Among the Living
1941
The Shepherd of the Hills
1941
Souls at Sea
1937
The Committee on Credentials
1916
The Spoilers
1942
The Fox
1921
Air Force
1943
You and Me
1938
The Bad Lands
1925
Kid Galahad
1937
The Sheriff's Baby
1913
Trader Horn
1931
In the Aisles of the Wild
1912
Sundown
1941
Two Daughters of Eve
1912
A Cry for Help
1912
Heredity
1912
Brutality
1912
Near To Earth
1913
The Switchtower
1913
The Prisoner of Shark Island
1936
Brute Force
1914
Concentration
1914
They Knew What They Wanted
1940
Without Honor
1932
The Sea of Grass
1947
Bucking Broadway
1917
An Unseen Enemy
1912
King of Alcatraz
1938
The Heart of a Bandit
1915
Judith of Bethulia
1914
Just Jim
1915
The Master Cracksman
1914
The Canceled Mortgage
1915
Graft
1915
A Knight of the Range
1916
Law and Order
1932
Sky Giant
1938
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
1972
The Outlaw and the Lady
1917
The Almost Good Man
1917
A 44-Calibre Mystery
1917
The Golden Bullet
1917
Human Stuff
1920
Inside Information
1939
The Accusing Finger
1936
Burning Bridges
1928
Satan Town
1926
The Frontier Trail
1926
The Seventh Bandit
1926
Driftin' Thru
1926
The Man from Red Gulch
1925
The Texas Trail
1925
Silent Sanderson
1925
Crashin' Thru
1923
Good Men and True
1922
'If Only' Jim
1920
Desert Driven
1923
Tiger Thompson
1924
The Miracle Baby
1923
Overland Red
1920
Legends of the West
1992
The Vanishing Legion
1931
Border Devils
1932
The Last of the Mohicans
1932
The Law West of Tombstone
1938
Ghost Town
1936
Buffalo Stampede
1933
The Night Rider
1932
The Devil Horse
1932
The Painted Lady
1912
Man of the Forest
1933
Wagon Trail
1935
So Near, Yet So Far
1912
The Prairie Pirate
1925
Friends
1912
The Burglar’s Dilemma
1912
Border Cafe
1937
Racing Lady
1937
The Last of the Clintons
1935
Annapolis Salute
1937
Parachute Battalion
1941
Born Reckless
1937
Burn 'Em Up O'Connor
1939
Little Miss Nobody
1936
Happy Land
1943
Port of Missing Girls
1938
Cavalier of the West
1931
Directing (4 movies)
| Title | Year | Job |
|---|---|---|
| A Gambler's Honor | 1913 | Writer |
| Under the Shadow of the Law | 1913 | Screenplay |
| The Master Cracksman | 1914 | Writer |
| Bucking Broadway | 1917 | Producer |
| The Phantom Riders | 1918 | Producer |
| Wild Women | 1918 | Producer |
| Hell Bent | 1918 | Writer |