Harry Carey

Acting

Harry Carey

Born 1878-01-16 · The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA

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 credits

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington poster
7.8

After the death of a United States Senator, the idealistic Jefferson Smith is appointed as his replacement in Washington. The naive and earnest new senator soon finds himself battling political corruption.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

1939

Red River poster
7.3

Following the Civil War, headstrong rancher Thomas Dunson decides to lead a perilous cattle drive from Texas to Missouri. During the exhausting journey, his persistence becomes tyrannical in the eyes of Matthew Garth, his adopted son and protégé.

Red River

1948

'If Only' Jim poster
8.0

Gold miner Jim Golden is in love with Miss Dot, the local postmistress, but he has a reputation for being somewhat lazy and shiftless. One day he finds a baby that had been abandoned by local Indians, adopts it, and begins to work his claim again. Parky, a local thief and swindler, finds out that Jim has finally struck gold, and schemes to trick Jim out of his claim and kidnap Miss Dot while he's at it.

'If Only' Jim

1920

Duel in the Sun poster
6.4

Beautiful half-breed Pearl Chavez becomes the ward of her dead father's first love and finds herself torn between her sons, one good and the other bad.

Duel in the Sun

1946

The Shepherd of the Hills poster
6.6

Young Matt Matthews, an Ozark Mountains moonshiner, hates the father he has never seen, who apparently deserted Matt's mother and left her to die. His obsession contributes to the hatred rampant in the mountains. However, the arrival of a stranger, Daniel Howitt, begins to positively affect the mountain people, who learn to shed their hatred under his gentle influence.

The Shepherd of the Hills

1941

The Sea of Grass poster
6.1

On America's frontier, a St. Louis woman marries a New Mexico cattleman who is seen as a tyrant by the locals.

The Sea of Grass

1947

Angel and the Badman poster
6.4

Notorious shootist and womanizer Quirt Evans' horse collapses as he passes a Quaker family's home. Quirt has been wounded, and the kindly family takes him in to nurse him back to health against the advice of others. The handsome Evans quickly attracts the affections of their beautiful daughter, Penelope. He develops an affection for the family and their faith, but his troubled past follows him.

Angel and the Badman

1947

The Spoilers poster
6.2

When honest ship captain Roy Glennister gets swindled out of his mine claim, he turns to saloon singer Cherry Malotte for assistance in his battle with no-good town kingpin Alexander McNamara.

The Spoilers

1942

Directed by John Ford poster
7.0

A documentary about the life and films of director John Ford.

Directed by John Ford

1971

You and Me poster
6.6

Mr. Morris, the owner of a large metropolitan department store, gives jobs to paroled ex-convicts in an effort to help them reform and go straight. Among his 'employed-prison-graduates' are Helen Roberts and Joe Dennis, working as sales clerks. Joe is in love with Helen and asks her to marry him, but she is forbidden to marry as she is still on parole, but she says yes and they are married. In spite of their poverty-level life, their marriage is a happy one until Joe discovers she has lied about her past, in order to marry him. Disillusioned, he leaves, goes back to his old gang and plans to rob the department store.

You and Me

1938

So Dear to My Heart poster
6.6

The tale of Jeremiah Kincaid and his quest to raise his 'champion' lamb, Danny. Jeremiah's dream of showing Danny at the Pike County Fair must overcome the obstinate objections of his loving, yet strict, grandmother Granny. Jeremiah's confidant, Uncle Hiram, is the boy's steady ally.

So Dear to My Heart

1948

The Prisoner of Shark Island poster
6.9

After healing the leg of the murderer John Wilkes Booth — responsible for the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln — Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, considered part of the atrocious conspiracy, is sentenced to life imprisonment and sent to the sinister Shark Island Prison.

The Prisoner of Shark Island

1936

Air Force poster
6.5

The crew of an Air Force bomber arrives in Pearl Harbor in the aftermath of the Japanese attack and is sent on to Manila to help with the defense of the Philippines.

Air Force

1943

Hollywood: The Dream Factory poster
7.2

A documentary about the glorious history of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and its decline leading to the sale of its back lot and props. By extension this provides a general history of Hollywood's Golden Age and the legendary studio system.

Hollywood: The Dream Factory

1972

No artwork available
NR

The old inventors daughter is a mission worker. She makes a convert of a young crook and eventually becomes engaged to marry him. But her father does not approve of him, and shows him the door when he learns from a detective the record of his daughter's suitor. The inventor's plans are stolen by an unscrupulous manufacturer, and the crook volunteers to recover them.

Her Convert

1915

Hearts Up poster
8.0

Coming upon a burning cabin, David Brent discovers the body of Jim Drew, who had been killed in a fight with a drunken Indian. Brent finds in Drew's pocket a letter announcing the impending arrival of Drew's daughter Lorelei. Feeling an obligation to Drew, who once saved his life, Brent journeys to San Francisco to meet Lorelei, who mistakes him for her father. Brent cannot bring himself to break the bad news to her and does not correct her false assumption.

Hearts Up

1921

Bare Fists poster
5.0

Harry's father is killed in a gunfight, and his mother makes him swear he'll never again use his gun, and rely only on his bare fists. But when his little brother is branded on the chest by cattle rustlers, will Harry break his promise?

Bare Fists

1919

Barbary Coast poster
6.4

Mary Rutledge arrives from the east, finds her fiancé dead, and goes to work at the roulette wheel of Luis Chamalis' Bella Donna, a rowdy gambling house in San Francisco in the 1850s. She falls in love with miner Jim Carmichael and takes his gold dust at the wheel. She goes after him, Chamalis goes after her with intent to harm Carmichael.

Barbary Coast

1935

If We Only Knew poster
5.0

A careless nurse girl allowing the child to wander away, made the mother realize the poignancy of the little verse: "If we knew the baby's fingers / Pressed against the window pane / Would be cold and stiff tomorrow / Never trouble us again / Would the bright eyes of our darling / catch the frown upon our brow / Would the prints of rosy fingers / Vex us then as they do now?"

If We Only Knew

1913

Desert Driven poster
8.0

The story of a man -- accused of a crime he didn't commit and wounded by the posse -- who hides out on a desert ranch.

Desert Driven

1923

Happy Land poster
7.1

An Iowa drugstore owner becomes embittered when his son is killed in World War II. The druggist believes that the boy's life was cut short before he had an opportunity to truly appreciate his existence.

Happy Land

1943

Legends of the West poster
NR

Host Jack Palance explores how Hollywood has depicted Western legends like George Armstrong Custer, Billy the Kid, Crazy Horse and the O.K. Corral

Legends of the West

1992

No artwork available
5.3

A nostalgic look at film clips from the Silent era.

Film Fun

1955

No artwork available
NR

Under police espionage, Crooked Joe is living with his wife and baby when Norris, his former pal, tries to interest him in a job. He refuses, and subsequently earns his old pal's animosity when Norris makes advances to his wife. Norris "frames" Joe, and he is sent to prison on a charge of robbing his employers.

Old Offenders

1915

Behind the camera

Hell Bent poster
5.6

A cowboy must save his girlfriend from captivity and then cross the desert on foot with a single waterhole on the way.

Hell Bent

1918

Love's Lariat poster
NR

A rancher begrudgingly goes east in order the fulfill the requirements of his uncle's will and receive his inheritance.

Love's Lariat

1916

Wild Women poster
4.5

Cheyenne Harry (Carey) and his pals, bent on helping their friend Rawhide Jack, attend a rodeo with the intent to win the prize for roping steers and to hand the winnings over to Jack.

Wild Women

1918

The Master Cracksman poster
NR

Retired gem merchant Peter J. Martin hires detective Dan McRae to guard a large diamond which he plans to present to his daughter Ruth on her twenty-first birthday. Notorious jewel thief Gentleman Joe overpowers McRae, however, and takes his place at Ruth's party.

The Master Cracksman

1914

The Master Cracksman poster
NR

Retired gem merchant Peter J. Martin hires detective Dan McRae to guard a large diamond which he plans to present to his daughter Ruth on her twenty-first birthday. Notorious jewel thief Gentleman Joe overpowers McRae, however, and takes his place at Ruth's party.

The Master Cracksman

1914

Bucking Broadway poster
5.6

On a ranch in Wyoming, one of the cowboys, Cheyenne Harry (Harry Carey), falls in love with his boss's daughter. But she decides to elope to the city with Captain Thornton, a wealthy visitor to the ranch. She quickly discovers that life in the city is not what she expected. Cheyenne, devastated by the loss of his fiancée, decides to go to the city to find her, and in the end rescues her from the grips of Captain Thornton and from the extravagant and decadent way of life in the city.

Bucking Broadway

1917

No artwork available
9.0

Black La Rue was born on the Mexican border in times of raids and fights. His father was killed in one of the fights. The circumstances of his birth have in some strange way affected his character so that he can never see a fight without having an irresistible desire to join the fray.

For the Love of a Girl

1916

McVeagh of the South Seas poster
4.7

Harvard grad Bruce McVeagh has fled San Francisco for the South Seas, where he rules as a king on a remote island. With his half-crazed first-mate 'Pearly' Gates, he keeps the natives subjugated with gin. Any who dare disobey him find brutal punishment on his dreaded torture rack. But his kingdom threatens to crash down around him when his lost love, Nancy Darrell, is shipwrecked on the island, just as the aroused natives rise up against their tormentor in an armed rebellion.

McVeagh of the South Seas

1914

The Phantom Riders poster
4.5

Dave Bland, head of a band of cattle rustlers operating in Paradise Valley, is defied by Cheyenne Harry who has driven his heard into the valley to graze. Bland calls his phantom riders together, routes Harry's cattle, and then seeks their owner intent on taking his life.

The Phantom Riders

1918

No artwork available
6.0

In this picture it is shown how a convict's life still remains under the ban of the law, even after the expiration of his term. With the detective continually on his track, he is able to save both a young woman's honor and her weak brother from the hands of a designing employer.

Under the Shadow of the Law

1913

No artwork available
NR

The brother at cards failed to make up the shortage at the express office, but the gambler determined to save him. His intention, however, was misconstrued until the sheriff's investigation brought the truth. The gambler then awoke to the justice of the girl's plea against his previous life and the tragedy of a dead brother's weakness was lightened.

A Gambler's Honor

1913