Donald Meek
Photoplayd Industry Rating
Not enough rated films yet to compute a weighted score.
Roles are weighted by involvement: director 1.0, screenwriter 0.7, lead 0.8, supporting 0.4, crew 0.1.
Thomas Donald Meek (14 July 1878 – 18 November 1946) was a Scottish-American actor. He first performed publicly at the age of eight and began appearing on Broadway in 1903. Meek is perhaps best known for his roles in the films You Can't Take It with You (1938) and Stagecoach (1939). He posthumously received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. Meek was born in Glasgow to Matthew and Annie Meek. In the 1890s, the Meek family emigrated to Canada and then to the United States. By 1900, they were living in Philadelphia where Meek was employed as a dry goods salesman, according to the United States census of that year with Meek later working on stage. After years on the stage, Meek became a film actor, appearing memorably 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 in the United States Army and contracted yellow fever which caused him to lose his hair. He was cast as timid, worried 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 whiskey salesman Samuel Peacock in John Ford's Stagecoach. From 1931 through 1932, Meek was featured as criminologist Dr. Crabtree in a series of 12 Warner Brothers two-reel short subjects written by S.S. Van Dine. Meek and Isabella "Belle" Walken married in Boston in a Methodist church on January 3, 1909. By this marriage, the American-born Belle Meek lost her United States citizenship by taking her husband's British nationality. Donald Meek died of leukaemia on 18 November 1946 in Los Angeles, while filming the role of Mr. Twiddle in Magic Town. A prolific film actor in over 100 Hollywood movies during its Golden Age, he received a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was entombed in the Fairmount Mausoleum at Fairmount Cemetery in Denver, Colorado.
Known for
Credits
Stagecoach (1939)
as Samuel Peacock
You Can't Take It with You (1938)
as Poppins
Bathing Beauty (1944)
as Chester Klazenfrantz
Captain Blood (1935)
as Dr. Whacker
Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)
as Prosecutor John Felder
The Return of Frank James (1940)
as McCoy
Jesse James (1939)
as McCoy
Peter Ibbetson (1935)
as Mr. Slade
A Woman's Face (1941)
as Herman Rundvik
Mark of the Vampire (1935)
as Dr. Doskil
Magic Town (1947)
as Mr. Twiddle
Du Barry Was a Lady (1943)
as Mr. Jones / Duc de Choiseul
The Informer (1935)
as Peter Mulligan
The Wild Man of Borneo (1941)
as Professor Charles W. Birdo
China Seas (1935)
as Chess Player (uncredited)
The Thin Man Goes Home (1944)
as Willie Crump
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938)
as Sunday School Superintendent
Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940)
as Mittelmeyer
The Merry Widow (1934)
as Valet
Hi, Nellie! (1934)
as Durkin
Two Girls and a Sailor (1944)
as Mr. Nizby
State Fair (1945)
as Hippenstahl
Keeper of the Flame (1943)
as Mr Arbuthnot
Barbary Coast (1935)
as Sawbuck McTavish
Society Doctor (1935)
as Moxley
Air Raid Wardens (1943)
as Eustace Middling
Babes on Broadway (1941)
as Mr. Stone
Blonde Inspiration (1941)
as 'Dusty' King
Pennies from Heaven (1936)
as Gramp Smith
Little Miss Broadway (1938)
as Willoughby Wendling
Tortilla Flat (1942)
as Paul D. Cummings
The Toast of New York (1937)
as Daniel Drew
The Whole Town's Talking (1935)
as Hoyt
Two in a Crowd (1936)
as Bennett
They Got Me Covered (1943)
as Little Old Man
Murder at the Vanities (1934)
as Dr. Saunders
Double Wedding (1937)
as Judge Blynn (uncredited)
Wayward (1932)
as Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
Bob Hope's World of Comedy (1976)
as Self - Tribute Montage (archive footage)
The Gilded Lily (1935)
as Hankerson
Come Live with Me (1941)
as Joe Darsie
Hollywood Cavalcade (1939)
as Lyle P. Stout
Maid of Salem (1937)
as Ezra Cheeves
Everybody's Old Man (1936)
as Finney
The Housekeeper's Daughter (1939)
as Editor Wilson
Barbary Coast Gent (1944)
as Bradford Bellamy I
My Little Chickadee (1940)
as Amos Budge
Lost Angel (1943)
as Professor Catty
The Girl Habit (1931)
as Jonesy
Nick Carter, Master Detective (1939)
as Bartholomew, the bee man
Three Married Men (1936)
as Mr. Frisbee
She Couldn't Take It (1935)
as Uncle Wyndersham
Parnell (1937)
as Nicholas Daniel Murphy
Going Hollywood: The '30s (1984)
as (archive footage)
The Feminine Touch (1941)
as Captain Makepeace Liveright
What Every Woman Knows (1934)
as Snibby the Jeweler (uncredited)
Maisie Goes to Reno (1944)
as Parsons
The Last Gentleman (1934)
as Judd Barr, Cabot's son
One Rainy Afternoon (1936)
as Judge
Romance in Manhattan (1934)
as Minister
Seven Sweethearts (1942)
as Reverend Howgan, the Minister
Bedside (1934)
as Dr. George Wiley
The Defense Rests (1934)
as Fogg
The Ghost Comes Home (1940)
as Mortimer Hopkins, Sr.
College Coach (1933)
as Spencer Trask
Hullabaloo (1940)
as Mr. Clyde Perkins
Sky Murder (1940)
as Bartholomew
Kind Lady (1935)
as Mr. Foster
The Fabulous Joe (1947)
as Henry Cadwallader, Lawyer
Make a Wish (1937)
as Joseph
Six Cylinder Love (1923)
as Richard Burton
Old Hutch (1936)
as Mr. Gunnison
Maisie Gets Her Man (1942)
as Mr. Stickwell
Personal Maid (1931)
as Pa Ryan
Third Finger, Left Hand (1940)
as Mr. Flandrin
Colonel Effingham's Raid (1946)
as Doc Buden
Rise and Shine (1941)
as Professor Philip Murray
Love on the Run (1936)
as Caretaker
Breakfast for Two (1937)
as Justice of the Peace
Having Wonderful Time (1938)
as P.U. Rogers
Behind The Headlines (1937)
as Potter
The Man from Dakota (1940)
as Mr. Vestry
Phantom Raiders (1940)
as Bartholomew
Hold That Co-ed (1938)
as Dean Thatcher
Rationing (1944)
as Wilfred Ball
Turnabout (1940)
as Henry, the Valet
The Omaha Trail (1942)
as Engineer Jonah McCleod
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1934)
as Mr. Wiggs
Star Dust (1940)
as Sam Wellman
Love, Honor and Oh, Baby! (1933)
as Luther Bowen
Baby Face Harrington (1935)
as Skinner
Artists & Models (1937)
as Dr. Zimmer
You're a Sweetheart (1937)
as Conway Jeeters
The Bride Comes Home (1935)
as The Judge
Affairs of Geraldine (1946)
as Casper Millhouse
Oh, Johnny, How You Can Love! (1940)
as Adelbert Thistlebottom
And So They Were Married (1936)
as Hotel Manager
The Hole in the Wall (1929)
as Goofy
Double Danger (1938)
as Gordon Ainsley, aka Henry Robinson
Biography of a Bachelor Girl (1935)
as Mr. Irish, Moose Village General Store
Blondie Takes a Vacation (1939)
as Jonathan N. Gillis
Janie Gets Married (1946)
as Harley P. Stowers
Village Tale (1935)
as Charlie
Happiness C.O.D. (1935)
as Thomas Sherridan
Because of Him (1946)
as Martin
Old Man Rhythm (1935)
as Paul Parker
The Trans-Atlantic Mystery (1932)
as Dr. Crabtree - Criminologist
Goodbye Broadway (1938)
as Iradius P. Oglethorpe
The Skull Murder Mystery (1932)
as Dr. Crabtree
The Return Of Peter Grimm (1935)
as Mayor Everett Bartholomew
Barnacle Bill (1941)
as "Pop" Cavendish
Three Legionnaires (1937)
as Uriah S. Grant
The Captain Hates the Sea (1934)
as Josephus Bushmills
The Wall Street Mystery (1931)
as Doctor Crabtree
The Studio Murder Mystery (1932)
as Dr. Crabtree
The Symphony Murder Mystery (1932)
as Dr. Crabtree
The Week End Mystery (1931)
as Dr. Amos Crabtree
Murder in the Pullman (1932)
as Dr. Amos Crabtree
The Crane Poison Case (1932)
as Dr. Amos Crabtree
The Cole Case (1932)
as Dr. Crabtree
The Love Kiss (1930)
as William
The Clyde Mystery (1931)
as Dr. Amos Crabtree
The Side Show Mystery (1932)
as Dr. Amos Crabtree