Donald Meek

He first performed publicly at the age of eight and began appearing on Broadway in 1903.

Donald Meek
Trailer for A Woman's Face (1941)
Born	Thomas Donald Meek (1878-07-14)14 July 1878 Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Died	18 November 1946(1946-11-18) (aged 68) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Fairmount Cemetery
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1886–1946
Spouse	Belle Walken ​ (m. 1909)​
Children	1

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.

 

Meek's Broadway credits include The Minister's Daughters (1903), Going Up (1917), Nothing But Love (1919), The Hottentot (1920), Little Old New York (1920), Six-Cylinder Love (1921), Tweedles (1923), The Potters (1923), Easy Terms (1925), Fool's Bells (1925), Love 'em and Leave 'em (1926), The Shelf (1926), Spread Eagle (1927), My Princess (1927), The Ivory Door (1927), Mr. Moneypenny (1928), and Jonesy (1929). In Broken Dishes (1929), he starred with a young Bette Davis.

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 Bros. 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.^{[citation needed]}