Donald Meek

DOB: 1878-07-13

DOD: 1946-11-18

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.

Starred In

1939
Movie

Stagecoach

1941
Movie

Come Live with Me

1941
Movie

A Woman's Face

1945
Movie

State Fair

1931
Movie

The Clyde Mystery

1923
Movie

Six Cylinder Love

1944
Movie

Bathing Beauty

1939
Movie

Jesse James

1939
Movie

Young Mr. Lincoln

1943
Movie

Air Raid Wardens

1935
Movie

Captain Blood

1940
Movie

Sky Murder

1940
Movie

Phantom Raiders

1937
Movie

Breakfast for Two

1935
Movie

Peter Ibbetson

1941
Movie

The Feminine Touch

1942
Movie

Tortilla Flat

1940
Movie

Turnabout

1934
Movie

Bedside

1938
Movie

Double Danger

1933
Movie

College Coach

1943
Movie

Lost Angel

1934
Movie

The Last Gentleman

1941
Movie

Barnacle Bill

1941
Movie

Blonde Inspiration

1944
Movie

Rationing

1946
Movie

Janie Gets Married

1935
Movie

Happiness C.O.D.

1937
Movie

Make a Wish

1938
Movie

Goodbye Broadway

1936
Movie

Three Married Men

1938
Movie

Hold That Co-ed

1937
Movie

Parnell

1935
Movie

Village Tale

1935
Movie

The Gilded Lily

1947
Movie

Magic Town

1934
Movie

Hi, Nellie!

1934
Movie

The Defense Rests

1936
Movie

Love on the Run

1935
Movie

Barbary Coast

1944
Movie

Barbary Coast Gent

1936
Movie

Old Hutch

1935
Movie

Kind Lady

1935
Movie

Society Doctor

1936
Movie

Two in a Crowd

1940
Movie

Star Dust

1935
Movie

Old Man Rhythm

1935
Movie

China Seas

1937
Movie

Three Legionnaires

1937
Movie

Artists & Models

1937
Movie

Maid of Salem

1931
Movie

Personal Maid

1942
Movie

The Omaha Trail

1946
Movie

Because of Him

1941
Movie

Babes on Broadway

1935
Movie

The Informer

1932
Movie

Wayward

1940
Movie

Hullabaloo

1934
Movie

The Merry Widow

1941
Movie

Rise and Shine

1937
Movie

Double Wedding

1932
Movie

The Cole Case

1942
Movie

Seven Sweethearts

1931
Movie

The Girl Habit

1947
Movie

The Fabulous Joe