David Manners

Acting

David Manners

Born — Died

1900-04-29 — 1998-12-23

Place of birth

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Known for

Acting

Credits

42 titles

David Joseph Manners (born Rauff de Ryther Duan Acklom, April 30, 1900 – December 23, 1998) was a Canadian-American actor who played John Harker in Todd Browning's 1931 horror classic Dracula. The following year he portrayed the archaeologist Frank Whemple in another pre-Code thriller by Universal Pictures, The Mummy. Manners abandoned his film career in 1936, and his theatrical career seventeen years later.

Known for

Dracula poster
7.2

A British estate agent travels to Transylvania to meet with the mysterious Count Dracula, who is interested in leasing a London castle. After Dracula enslaves and drives the agent to insanity, the pair return to London together, where Dracula, a secret bloodsucker, begins preying on socialites.

Dracula

1931

The Mummy poster
6.7

An ancient Egyptian priest named Imhotep is revived when a British archaeological expedition finds his mummy and one of the researchers accidentally reads an ancient life-giving spell. Imhotep escapes from the field site and searches for the reincarnation of the soul of his lover.

The Mummy

1932

The Black Cat poster
6.7

After a road accident in Hungary, the American honeymooners Joan and Peter and the enigmatic Dr. Werdegast find refuge in the house of the famed architect Hjalmar Poelzig, who shares a dark past with the doctor.

The Black Cat

1934

From Hell to Heaven poster
7.8

The various residents and occupants of a resort hotel await the outcome of a horse race at a nearby track, as it will affect each of their lives in different ways.

From Hell to Heaven

1933

The Miracle Woman poster
6.7

After an unappreciated minister dies, his daughter loses her faith in God, prompting her to open a phony temple with a con man. Can the love of a blind former aviator restore her faith and happiness?

The Miracle Woman

1931

Roman Scandals poster
5.8

A kind-hearted young man is thrown out of his corrupt home town of West Rome, Oklahoma. He falls asleep and dreams that he is back in the days of olden Rome, where he gets mixed up with court intrigue and a murder plot against the Emperor.

Roman Scandals

1933

Film credits

1930s · 39 titles

Dracula poster
7.2

A British estate agent travels to Transylvania to meet with the mysterious Count Dracula, who is interested in leasing a London castle. After Dracula enslaves and drives the agent to insanity, the pair return to London together, where Dracula, a secret bloodsucker, begins preying on socialites.

Dracula

1931

The Mummy poster
6.7

An ancient Egyptian priest named Imhotep is revived when a British archaeological expedition finds his mummy and one of the researchers accidentally reads an ancient life-giving spell. Imhotep escapes from the field site and searches for the reincarnation of the soul of his lover.

The Mummy

1932

The Black Cat poster
6.7

After a road accident in Hungary, the American honeymooners Joan and Peter and the enigmatic Dr. Werdegast find refuge in the house of the famed architect Hjalmar Poelzig, who shares a dark past with the doctor.

The Black Cat

1934

From Hell to Heaven poster
7.8

The various residents and occupants of a resort hotel await the outcome of a horse race at a nearby track, as it will affect each of their lives in different ways.

From Hell to Heaven

1933

The Miracle Woman poster
6.7

After an unappreciated minister dies, his daughter loses her faith in God, prompting her to open a phony temple with a con man. Can the love of a blind former aviator restore her faith and happiness?

The Miracle Woman

1931

Roman Scandals poster
5.8

A kind-hearted young man is thrown out of his corrupt home town of West Rome, Oklahoma. He falls asleep and dreams that he is back in the days of olden Rome, where he gets mixed up with court intrigue and a murder plot against the Emperor.

Roman Scandals

1933

The Truth About Youth poster
6.2

A young man falls into the clutches of a nightclub singer who corrupts him.

The Truth About Youth

1930

A Bill of Divorcement poster
6.4

A World War I veteran returns home after fifteen years in an asylum and finds that everything has changed — his daughter is grown and about to marry.

A Bill of Divorcement

1932

Lady with a Past poster
6.2

A wealthy girl hires a male escort to make one of her male friends jealous. She spreads rumours about her character that makes her popular amongst all bachelors in the city including her friend.

Lady with a Past

1932

The Devil's in Love poster
6.0

When military doctor Andre Morand is wrongfully convicted of murder, he escapes the firing squad with the help of his friend, Jean. Taking refuge in a mission run by the uncle of the beautiful Margot, Andre agrees to care for the sick. After professing his love for Margot, he learns that she is engaged to Jean, who is now sick. Vowing to return to aid Jean and others, Andre prepares to face death, but a series of events may turn things in his favor.

The Devil's in Love

1933

They Call It Sin poster
6.0

A young, innocent small-town church organist is thrown out of her home, told she was adopted, and that her mother was an evil woman. She follows a crush to the big city and is left fending for herself.

They Call It Sin

1932

The Greeks Had a Word for Them poster
5.6

A trio of money-hungry women rent a luxurious penthouse, spending their dough on drink and debonair clothing, backbiting and catfighting as they steal each other's boyfriends.

The Greeks Had a Word for Them

1932

The Death Kiss poster
5.2

When a movie actor is shot and killed during production, the true feelings about the actor begin to surface. As the studio heads worry about negative publicity, one of the writers tags along as the killing is investigated and clues begin to surface.

The Death Kiss

1932

The Mystery of Edwin Drood poster
5.9

A choirmaster addicted to opium and obsessed with a beautiful young woman will stop at nothing to possess her.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

1935

A Woman Rebels poster
5.8

A defiant young woman struggles against the norms and morals established by Victorian society and enforced by her autocratic father.

A Woman Rebels

1936

The Girl in 419 poster
4.2

A hospital surgeon (James Dunn) protects a mystery woman (Gloria Stuart) who knows too much about a card-game murder.

The Girl in 419

1933

Beauty and the Boss poster
7.0

An ultra-efficient Plain Jane secretary blossoms when she accompanies her boss on a business trip to Paris.

Beauty and the Boss

1932

The Right to Love poster
6.0

A woman becomes estranged from her daughter when the girl learns that she is illegitimate.

The Right to Love

1930

Torch Singer poster
5.4

When she can't support her illegitimate child, an abandoned young woman puts her up for adoption and pursues a career as a torch singer. Years later, she searches for the child she gave up.

Torch Singer

1933

An Intimate Dinner in Celebration of Warner Bros. Silver Jubilee poster
4.5

Mr. and Mrs. Warner Bros. Pictures and their precocious offspring, Little Miss Vitaphone, host a dinner in honor of Warner Bros. Silver Jubilee, attended by most of the major players and song writers under contract to WB at that time.

An Intimate Dinner in Celebration of Warner Bros. Silver Jubilee

1930

Kismet poster
4.0

Hajj, a rascally beggar on the periphery of the court of Baghdad, schemes to marry his daughter to royalty and to win the heart of the queen of the castle himself. This film is believed lost.

Kismet

1930

Man Wanted poster
5.5

Hardworking magazine editor Lois is married to playboy Fred Ames. Her secretary abruptly quits just as salesman Tom Sheridan happens to arrive to hawk his goods. Desperate for assistance, Lois impulsively hires Tom. While Fred continues his philandering ways, a romance blossoms between Tom and Lois. But Tom's fiancée grows suspicious of his bond with Lois, and he decides to resign. Lois won't give Tom up without a fight, though.

Man Wanted

1932

The Millionaire poster
7.6

A millionaire automaker retires upon the advice of his doctor, but becomes so bored he buys half interest in a gas station and works it on the sly.

The Millionaire

1931

Crooner poster
6.5

Fame goes to a priggish singer's head and almost costs him his girlfriend.

Crooner

1932

Sweet Mama poster
6.0

A young girl falls in love with a member of a gang of crooks. She determines to bring the rest of the gang to justice so she can save the man she loves.

Sweet Mama

1930

Mothers Cry poster
5.7

Having raised four children alone, widow Mary Williams still manages to love her eldest son, vicious and sadistic Danny Williams, who has led a life of crime and now returns to inflict his insane behavior on the family household.

Mothers Cry

1930

The Last Flight poster
6.5

WWI pilots Cary, Shep, Bill, and Francis, traumatized by the devastation of the war, head to Paris instead of home, where they meet the eccentric and wealthy Nikki, who is drawn to Cary. The five friends, tagged by boorish reporter Frink, drink their way from Paris to Lisbon.

The Last Flight

1931

The Moonstone poster
4.6

A valuable gem from India is stolen in an old dark mansion and it is up to Scotland Yard inspector Charles Irwin to find out who did it among all the suspects who were in the house.

The Moonstone

1934

Lucky Fugitives poster
9.0

Jack Wycoff is a successful young author whose double is the notorious gangster Cy King. Mistakenly arrested, Wyckoff finds himself handcuffed to an attractive lady. Wycoff escapes custody and flees across the country with the law in hot pursuit, refusing to establish either his true identity or his innocence until the lady unwillingly trapped at his side agrees to marry him.

Lucky Fugitives

1936

The Warrior's Husband poster
7.0

The Warrior's Husband is a satire of the male and female roles in society set in 800 B.C.. Queen Hippolyta (Marjorie Rambeau) rules Pontus with masculine authority; in fact, it is the women of Pontus who do all the laboring, fighting, and governing. Hippolyta's husband Sapiens (Ernest Truex) is truly a sissy of the first order, and is not unlike most of Pontus' male inhabitants.

The Warrior's Husband

1933

The Ruling Voice poster
6.2

A mob boss has a change of heart when his daughter convinces him to move on from crime.

The Ruling Voice

1931

The Great Flirtation poster
3.5

An actor is jealous of his wife's stardom.

The Great Flirtation

1934

Stranger in Town poster
5.0

Crickle is a tenacious small-town grocer who stubbornly resists the efforts of a monopolistic chain-store firm to purchase his establishment. The chain manager retaliates by cutting off Crickles' supply of produce, whereupon his friends and neighbors save his business by supplying him with goods from their own farms.

Stranger in Town

1931

Hearts in Bondage poster
4.9

Best friends Kenneth Reynolds and Raymond Jordan are U.S. Navy officers, and Kenneth is engaged to Raymond's sister. But the eruption of the Civil War divides them, as Raymond stands by his native Virginia while Kenneth remains on duty as a Northern officer. Kenneth's uncle, John Ericsson, designs a new kind of ship, an ironclad he calls the Monitor. Eventually the war pits Kenneth, on board the Monitor, against his friend Raymond, serving aboard the South's own ironclad, the Merrimac (as it is called here). A naval battle ensues, one that will go down in history.

Hearts in Bondage

1936

Jalna poster
5.1

A young poet, accompanied by his new bride, returns home to his large family at their Canadian farm.

Jalna

1935

The Luck of a Sailor poster
9.0

In this romantic comedy, the king of Ruritania marries an impoverished commoner after he is exiled. Trouble shows up when the king must return to his country and marry an heiress. Fortunately, his first bride has fallen for an army officer and is happy to have her royal marriage annulled.

The Luck of a Sailor

1934

Journey's End poster
6.7

In 1917 France, an alcoholic captain is afraid that his new replacement, his sweetheart's brother, will betray his downfall.

Journey's End

1930

The Perfect Clue poster
6.0

Mona Stewart, madcap, spoiled daughter of a wealthy man, becomes upset when she learns that her father is engaged to a woman she hates. She runs away, via various modes of transportation, and hires an ex-con, David Mannering, to drive her around as she eludes the all-out search conducted by her father and her fiancée, Ronnie Van Zandt. A romance is blossoming until her chauffeur is arrested for the murder of a crime-syndicate boss.

The Perfect Clue

1935

He Knew Women poster
6.1

A novelist has to choose between his wealthy patron and a penniless romantic.

He Knew Women

1930