Harry Davenport was the memorable “Dr. Meade” alone on the battlefield with thousands of Confederate soldiers wounded or dying….

Born: January 19 th, 1866 in New York City , New York
Died: August 8 th, 1949 in Los Angeles , California at age 83
Cause of death: Heart attack
Real name: Harry Loomis Davenport
Marriages: Five, four of them ending in divorce but producing a total of 10 children. The fifth to Marcella Russell lasted 32 years until his death and produced 1 child.

Remarks: Harry Davenport played the role of a doctor 20 times on screen but it was his portrayal of Dr. Meade in “Gone With The Wind” in 1939 that will remain a memorable part of film history. Known to his friends and co-workers as “Pop”, Harry shared his time equally between the stage and the screen as both director and actor. He was the father of actress Dorothy Davenport. (Also see Issue#7)

Films (155)

Joel McCrea was actually the first Dr. Kildare in “Internes Can’t Take Money” 1957 before Lew Ayres took over the popular series.

Born : November 5 th, 1905 in South Pasadena , California .
Died: October 20 th, 1990 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles , California at 84.
Cause of death: pulmonary disease
Real name: Joel Albert McCrea
Marriages: One to actress Frances Dee that lasted 57 years until his death. They had 3 sons.

Remarks: While Joel portrayed a doctor 5 times, he was “Jim Kildare” only once in a story line that led the young intern on the trail of the long-missing child of a young widow (Barbara Stanwyck). Ironically, the mobster who helps him was played by Lloyd Nolan, who got his own MD in the television series “Julia”.

Films (93)

Lew Ayres took it from there beginning with “Young Doctor Kildare” in 1938.

Born: December 28 th, 1908 in Minneapolis , Minnesota
Died: December 30 th, 1996 in Los Angeles , California at age 88
Cause of death: complications from a coma
Real name: Lewis Frederick Ayres III
Marriages: Three. The two to actresses Lola Lane (1931 – 1933) and Ginger Rogers (1934 – 1940) ended in divorce. No children. His third to Diana Hall lasted 32 years and produced one child.

Remarks: Lew made 9 films as Dr. Jim Kildare as well as 5 other doctor roles including one that won him an Oscar nomination….his portrayal of Dr. Robert Richardson, the sympathetic physician that treated “Johnny Belinda” (Jane Wyman who won for Best Actress). But his refusal to sign a television contract that involved endorsing cigarettes cost him the role of Kildare on the small screen. That went to Richard Chamberlain.

Films (72)

Lionel Barrymore was the crotchety but lovable “Dr. Gillespie” in the “Kildare” series and beyond.

Born: April 28 th, 1878 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania
Died: November 15 th, 1954 in Van Nuys , California at 76
Cause of death: heart attack
Real name: Lionel Herbert Blythe
Marriages: Two. The first to Doris Rankin lasted 19 years before ending in divorce. The second to Irene Fenwick lasted 13 years until her death. No children to either union.

Remarks: The wheelchair Lionel used in these films was not a studio prop. He did all of his roles after 1938 seated in a chair because of crippling rheumatoid arthritis. The role of Dr. Gillespie lasted through 12 films extending beyond “Dr. Kildare’s Victory” when Lew Ayres exited the series and the old doctor got a few new assistants (Philip Dorn followed by Van Johnson and then James Craig). Other doctor roles peppered Lionel’s resume but it was his Gillespie role that was most popular.

Films (227)

Dirk Bogarde was Dr. Simon Sparrow in “Doctor in the House”, the first of a 1954 British comedy series.

Born: March 28 th, 1921 in Hempstead , London , England . Died: May 8 th, 1999 in London , England at 78
Cause of death: a heart attack after a stroke.
Real name: Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde
Marriages: None.He had a 50-year life partnership with his manager, Tony Forwood.

Remarks: Dirk portrayed doctors on the screen 6 times, 5 as Simon Sparrow, and it was that role that made him a star. “Doctor in the House” made British film history as one of its most popular motion pictures. But he is also remembered for his portrayal of Lt. General Frederick “Boy” Browning in the smash hit “A Bridge Too Far” (1977), the only actor in the film who had actually been in that battle.

Films (64)

Omar Shariff was Boris Pasternak’s charismatic “Dr. Zhivago”.

Born: April 10 th, 1932 in Alexandria , Virginia
Real name: Michael Shalhoub
Marriages: One to Faten Hamama that lasted 20 years before ending in divorce. They have one child.

Remarks: The enigmatic actor who would “rather be playing bridge than making a bad movie” is known more for this role than any other he has ever done. Omar has played archdukes and princes, sheikhs and poets (Khalil Gibran) and even a conqueror (Genghis Khan) but he has only played a doctor twice…as Zhivago and as Dr. Rad in “A Poppy Is Also a Flower” 1965 ( a movie best forgotten). He was also the mobster husband of Fanny Brice (Barbra Streisand) in “Funny Girl” (1968) and “Funny Lady” (1975).

Films to date (80)

Kay Francis was the first as “Mary Stevens, MD” in 1933!

Born: January 13 th, 1905 in Oklahoma City , Oklahoma Died: August 26 th, 1968 in New York city , New York at 63 Cause of death: cancer
Real name: Katherine Edwina Gibbs
Marriages: Five, all ending in divorce with no children. Kay left most of her estate to Seeing, Eye, Inc. to train dogs for the blind.

Remarks: Kay played a doctor on screen 3 times but was never given a script that showcased her medical expertise. Instead the storylines were geared to the men in her life and the problems they caused her. In this first film, “Mary” found herself pregnant by a fellow doctor and attempts suicide after her jilts her and the baby dies. Of course later she takes the cad back! Shame, shame! She plays similar roles in “Doctor Monica” (1934) and “King of the Underworld” in 1939 (a movie so bad it was rumored that the studio was trying to sabotage her).

Films (67)

Ann Harding played Dr. Margaret Simmons in “A Right To Romance” in 1933. The title tells it all.

Born: August 7 th, 1901 in Fort Sam Houston , Texas .
Died: September 1 st, 1981 in Sherman Okas, California at 80 Cause of death: none listed.
Real name: Dorothy Walton Gatley Marriages: Two, both ending in divorce. The first one produced a daughter, Jane.

Remarks: Ann played a doctor twice. In “A Right to Romance” she is a plastic surgeon who thankfully chooses her career (and the affections of a devoted colleague over an irresponsible playboy husband. In the second, she follows Claudette Colbert into psychiatry( another accepted doctor role for women). All in all, Ann does much better than Kay Francis.

Films (39)

Claudette Colbert is Dr. Jane Everest, first woman psychiatrist on screen in “Private Worlds” (1935).

Born: September 13 th, 1903 in Paris , France .
Died: July 30 th, 1996 in Speightstown , Barbados at 92
Cause of death: complications from a series of strokes.
Real name: Lily Claudette Chauchoin
Marriages: Two. The first to Norman Foster lasted 7 years (although they never lived together) before ending in divorce. The second to Dr. Joel Pressman lasted 35 years until his death. No children to either union.

Remarks: Claudette had the title “Doctor” only once but won Charles Boyer in the bargain. It was Boyer’s first important American role. Claudette’s most memorable role, however, was as the runaway heiress opposite Clark Gable in “it Happened One Night” and it won her the Oscar. Claudette was living in her 200-year-old plantation house in Barbados when she died.

Films (65)

Ingrid Bergman also played a psychiatrist in “Spellbound” , Hitchcock’s 1945 thriller. But still no scalpels!

Born: August 29 th, 1915 in Stockholm , Sweden .
Died: On her 67 th birthday, August 29 th, 1982
Cause of death: lymphoma
Marriages: Three. The first to Dr. Petter Lindstrom lasted 13 years before ending in divorce. They had one child. The second to Roberto Rossellini followed a scandal that almost wrecked her career. It lasted 7 years and produced 3 children. The third to Lars Schmidt lasted 18 years and also ended in divorce.

Remarks: Here Ingrid had the benefit of Alfred Hitchcock’s deft hand and Salvador Dali’s wild dream sequences. The film industry had relegated women doctors to plastic surgery, psychoanalysis and midwifery with no blood and no glory. Ingrid went on to win 3 Oscars and an Emmy to become a truly celebrated international star. (For more on Ingrid, see Issue #3)

Films (47)

Greer Garson finally got to be a real country doctor! She was Dr. Julia Winslow Garth in “A Strange Lady in Town” in 1955. Strange, indeed!

Born: September 29 th, 1904 in London , England .
Died: April 6 th, 1996 in Dallas , Texas at age 91.
Cause of death: heart failure
Real name: Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson
Marriages: Three. Two ended in divorce including her second to “Mrs. Miniver” co-star Richard Ney. The third to Buddy Fogelson lasted 38 years until his death in 1987.

Remarks: Leave it to Garson to take the lady medic back to her roots! This country doctor film was Greer’s first non-MGM starring role and set in New Mexico of 1880. But, of course, the townsfolk wanted nothing to do with a lady sawbones! And the rival doctor in town (played by Dana Andrews ) heartily agreed. So she tended to the Indians and the Mexicans in town. But she won over the town and the doctor and made them all proud.

Films (25)