About

Known credits:
96
Birthday:
1895-03-13
Place of birth:
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Website:
N/A

Dorothy Davenport

Overview

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.

Known for

Acting
1933 Man Hunt Actor Mrs. Scott N/A
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1928 Hellship Bronson Actor Mrs. Bronson N/A
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1927 The Satin Woman Actor Mrs. Jean Taylor (as Mrs. Wallace Reid) N/A
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1925 The Red Kimona Actor Woman Telling the Story (uncredited) 59
Average
1924 Broken Laws Actor Joan Allen N/A
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1923 Human Wreckage Actor Ethel MacFarland N/A
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1920 The Fighting Chance Actor Leila Mortimer N/A
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1918 His Extra Bit Actor The Wife N/A
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1917 The Squaw Man's Son Actor Edith, Lady Effington N/A
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1917 Treason Actor Luella Brysk N/A
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1917 The Girl and the Crisis Actor Ellen Wilmot N/A
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1917 The Scarlet Crystal Actor Marie Delys N/A
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1917 Mothers of Men Actor Clara Madison 58
Average
1916 The Wrong Heart Actor N/A
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1916 The Devil's Bondwoman Actor Beverly Hope N/A
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1916 Barriers of Society Actor Martha Gorham N/A
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1916 Black Friday Actor Elionor Rossitor N/A
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1916 The Unattainable Actor Bessie Gale N/A
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1916 A Yoke of Gold Actor Carner N/A
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1916 The Way of the World Actor Beatrice Farley 58
Average
1916 Doctor Neighbor Actor Hazel Rogers N/A
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1915 The Unknown Actor Nancy Preston 58
Average
1915 Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo Actor Grand Duchess Feodora N/A
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1915 In Humble Guise Actor Grace Hunt N/A
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1914 The Test of Manhood Actor Ethel Crandall N/A
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1914 The Den of Thieves Actor Dorothy N/A
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1914 'Cross the Mexican Line Actor Dorothy West N/A
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1914 A Wife on a Wager Actor N/A
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1914 Love's Western Flight Actor Dorothy N/A
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1914 Passing of the Beast Actor The Mountie's Wife N/A
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1914 The Man Within Actor N/A
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1914 The Siren Actor Renee N/A
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1914 The Quack Actor Mary Rohan N/A
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1914 Women and Roses Actor Wallace's Mistress N/A
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1914 The Fruit of Evil Actor N/A
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1914 The Skeleton Actor Jack's Wife N/A
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1914 The Test Actor The Poor Man's Wife 58
Average
1914 A Gypsy Romance Actor Queen of the Gypsies N/A
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1914 Cupid Incognito Actor Angela Graham N/A
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1914 The Spider and Her Web Actor N/A
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1914 The Way of a Woman Actor Dorothy N/A
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1914 The Mountaineer Actor Dorothy - Jim's Sweetheart N/A
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1914 The Heart of the Hills Actor The Government Detective N/A
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1914 The Voice of the Viola Actor Dorothy N/A
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1914 Breed o' the Mountains Actor Sue Jarvis N/A
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1914 A Flash in the Dark Actor Mrs. Randall N/A
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1914 The Greater Devotion Actor N/A
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1914 Fires of Conscience Actor Ethel N/A
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1914 The Wheel of Life Actor The Prospector's Wife N/A
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1914 The Countess Betty's Mine Actor Countess Betty Ardmore N/A
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1914 The Intruder Actor The Woodsman's Sweetheart N/A
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1913 A Hopi Legend Actor N/A
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1913 The Lightning Bolt Actor Dot N/A
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1913 A Cracksman Santa Claus Actor Dot N/A
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1913 Retribution Actor Dorothy N/A
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1913 The Fires of Fate Actor Dot - Wally's Sweetheart N/A
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1913 The Cracksman's Reformation Actor Dorothy N/A
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1913 The Revelation Actor Mrs. Burns N/A
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1913 The Spark of Manhood Actor N/A
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1913 Pierre of the North Actor Mary McKenzie - the Factor's Daughter N/A
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1912 His Only Son Actor Jessie Carter N/A
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1912 Her Indian Hero Actor Veda Mead 58
Average
1912 A Brave Little Woman Actor Clara Lyttell 58
Average
1910 The Golden Supper Actor Flower Girl 58
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1910 A Gold Necklace Actor A Friend 58
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Directing
1934 The Road to Ruin Directing Director 58
Average
1934 The Woman Condemned Directing Director 58
Average
1933 Sucker Money Directing Director 58
Average
1929 Linda Directing Director 59
Average
1925 The Red Kimona Directing Director 59
Average
1923 Human Wreckage Directing Director N/A
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Writing
1955 Footsteps in the Fog Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1951 Rhubarb Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1949 Impact Writing Writer 59
Average
1948 Who Killed Doc Robbin? Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1947 Curley Writing Story 59
Average
1941 Redhead Writing Screenplay 58
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1940 The Old Swimmin' Hole Writing Writer N/A
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1940 Drums of the Desert Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1940 Haunted House Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1940 On the Spot Writing Screenplay 59
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1940 Tomboy Writing Story N/A
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1938 Prison Break Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1935 Honeymoon Limited Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1935 Women Must Dress Writing Story 58
Average
1934 The Road to Ruin Writing Writer 58
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1932 The Racing Strain Writing Story N/A
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1925 The Red Kimona Writing Writer 59
Average
1923 Human Wreckage Writing Writer N/A
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Production
1937 A Bride for Henry Production Producer 58
Average
1937 Paradise Isle Production Producer 59
Average
1935 Honeymoon Limited Production Producer 59
Average
1935 Women Must Dress Production Producer 58
Average
1934 Redhead Production Producer 59
Average
1925 The Red Kimona Production Producer 59
Average
1923 Human Wreckage Production Producer N/A
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