Job Actor, producer, director, screenwriter
Years active 1908-63
Known for Crusty old shepherds, ranchers and patriarchs
Top Roles Sir Charles Emery, Dr. Livingstone, Mr. Brown, Battling Burrows, Drumsheugh
Top GenresDrama, Romance, Silent Films, Adventure, Historical, Film Adaptation
Top TopicsBook-Based, England, Based on Play
Top Collaborators (Producer), (Producer), (Producer), (Director)
Shares birthday with Kathleen Howard, Ross Alexander, Keenan Wynn  see more..

Donald Crisp Overview:

Character actor, Donald Crisp, was born George William Crisp on Jul 27, 1882 in London, England. Crisp appeared in over 170 films and shorts. His best known films include Wuthering Heights (as Dr. Kenneth), The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (as Francis Bacon), National Velvet (Mr. Brown), Lassie Come Home (as Sam Carraclough) and How Green Was My Valley (as Mr. Morgan). His final screen role was as Grandpa Spencer opposite Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara in Spencer's Mountain (1963). He directed over 70 films and shorts from 1914 through 1930, his final directorial effort being The Runaway Bride starring Mary Astor. Crisp died at the age of 91 on May 25, 1974 in Van Nuys, CA and was laid to rest in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery (Glendale) in Glendale, CA.

MINI BIO:

It's almost impossible to think of Donald Crisp as anything other than a crusty old shepherd, rancher or patriarch -- the collective image from a fistful of 1940's films. But this Scottish-born actor who never lost his burr was a multi-talented man who began his career with D.W. Griffith in the early silent days, and directed many silent films including some classics from the 1920s when he also made films in Britain. He won an Oscar in 1941 for How Green Was My Valley.

(Source: available at Amazon Quinlan's Illustrated Dictionary of Film Character Actors).

HONORS and AWARDS:

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Donald Crisp was nominated for one Academy Award, winning for Best Supporting Actor for How Green Was My Valley (as Mr. Morgan) in 1941.

Academy Awards

YearAwardFilm nameRoleResult
1941Best Supporting ActorHow Green Was My Valley (1941)Mr. MorganWon
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He was honored with one star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the category of Motion Pictures.

BlogHub Articles:

Supporting Actors:

By Duke Mantee on Oct 6, 2012 From Spoilers

That fatherly, white-haired man giving good advice? Probably . Crisp emigrated to Americafrom Englandin 1906 and began acting. He worked on silent films as D.W. Griffith?s assistant director, and from this association, appeared in The Birth of a Nation as General Grant. It was a silent, ... Read full article


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Donald Crisp Quotes:

Ned Kincaid: Pop is counting on you to bringing law and order in this territory, Judge.
Judge Hardwick: That's going to be some job, judging from the scum of the west I've seen drifting in here.


Major Singleton: I'm too old a horse to change my gait.


Battling Burrows: Put a smile on yer face, can't yer?


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Donald Crisp on the
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Donald Crisp Facts
His final screen role was as Grandpa Spencer opposite Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara in Spencer's Mountain (1963). This film, adapted from the novel by Earl Hamner was the basis for the popular television series '_The Waltons_'(1972).

As a producer, he became an active liaison between the film industry and outside business interests. Crisp served on the Bank of America advisory board for several decades, including a stint as its chairman, becoming influential with its board of directors.

Crisp worked as an assistant to Griffith for several years in Hollywood which fostered a passion in him to become a director in his own right. He directed over 70 films by his final directorial effort '_The Runaway Bride_'(1930) starring Mary Astor. Reportedly, Crisp gave up directing partly because it had become extremely wearisome as he was so often called upon, sometimes forced, to do favors for studio chiefs by agreeing to employ their relatives in his films.

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