Doris Davenport
Her performance here seems right on, but I notice from the bio that this was her last pic, and I can't find any further info. Anybody know what happened to her?
shareI too wonder whatever happened to her. I thought she was beautiful. She reminded me of Olivia de Havilland and Donna Reed. The three of them could have be sisters.
shareDoris Davenport made one more film after "The Westerner", but shortly afterwards she was badly injured in a car crash, which left her with a severe limp, and that ended her career. But I know little else about her subsequent personal life. She died in 1980 at 63, though some sources say she was born in 1915, not 1917, which would have made her 65. I also thought she was a lovely girl and capable actress.
Whoever wrote the IMDb biography (many of which are notoriously inaccurate) is so off that he gave a completely wrong date of her death -- month, day and year, all incorrect, off by almost three years. Plus, he gave her age as 81 -- approximately 16 years older than her actual age when she did pass away. Since he inaccurately claimed she died in 1977, that would have meant she was born in 1896 -- making her 44 when "The Westerner" was made, which she obviously was not. IMDb really should scrutinize what some of these boobs write.
IMDB still lists Gary Cooper's wife and widow as Sandra Shaw, not Veronica Balfe Cooper. They need to update many of the bios.
shareReally. Good catch. They even listed incorrect dates of death this year for Suzanne Pleshette and Richard Widmark, both of whom had just died. I sent in corrections for both and Suzanne's has been fixed; too early yet for RW's. But you'd think with such things happening contemporaneously (not something from 50 years ago) they'd get them right.
shareRichard Widmark was the source of the quote that Coop was "...catnip to the ladies."
shareInteresting that Coop was a notorious womanizer, while Widmark was quietly noteworthy for having had a successful and monogomous marriage for 55 years -- he quit acting in the early 90s to take care of his wife, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
shareRichard Widmark's wife was one of Oscar Hammerstein's daughters.
Back on the topic of Doris Davenport: One of my favorite scenes in "The Westerner" is when Cole (Gary Cooper) cuts a lock of her hair at the fence rail, intending to pass it off as a lock of Lily Langry's hair.
Yes, very sweet -- and practical. Better than being shot by Judge Bean!
(I also like the end where Bean meets Lily in the last moments of his life, especially the camera as his p.o.v., his last vision being of Langtry before he dies. Rather sad, and you suddenly feel for an essentially unsympathetic character, a tribute to Wyler's direction. Also nice because in real life, of course, Roy Bean never met Lily Langtry.)
I wonder what kind of career DD would have had had she not been injured and forced into retirement. Personally I think she would have had a career typical of most mid-level Hollywood actresses of the period, modestly successful leads in average pictures followed by a decline in the late 40s-early 50s, and a lot of TV work after that, trailing off altogether in the 60s. I don't think she had the makings of a major star -- few did. But it's a shame her career was so abruptly curtailed.
I thought Doris Davenport was a doll and a very good actress in this movie.
Perhaps the incorrect birth and death dates given for her were due to confusing hers with those of DOROTHY Davenport, actress, producer, director, screenwriter -- born 1895, died 1977, according to Ephraim Katz's Film Encyclopedia. He does not list Doris, at least in my rather old edition.
He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good... St. Matthew 5:45
Doris was 22 years younger than Dorothy, so I doubt Katz confused the two. But Katz's dates and biographies contain very many inaccuracies and omissions. Halliwell had approximately her right birthdate but for a time thought The Westerner was her only film. He also used to say she had simply "disappeared", apparently unaware of her accident.
shareI did not mean that Katz confused the two, but that whoever gave the inaccurate dates saw Dorothy's dates in Katz's book and took them for Doris'. I agree that both Katz' and Halliwell's (which I also have) need to be taken with a grain of salt.
He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good... St. Matthew 5:45
I realize this post is almost four years old but I just watched it on TCM. Cooper was his usual understated self and I have always lover Brennan. Mrs Davenport was radiant and beautiful. Such a shame her career was cut short.
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