- Max Davidson
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Max Davidson
Davidson in the film Moan and Groan, Inc.Born May 23, 1875
Berlin, GermanyDied September 4, 1950 (aged 75)
Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, CaliforniaOccupation Actor Years active 1912–1945 Spouse Alice Marti (1927 - ?) Max Davidson (May 23, 1875 – September 4, 1950) was a German film actor known for his comedic Jewish persona during the silent film era.[1] With a career spanning over thirty years, Davidson appeared in over 180 films.
Contents
Career
Born in Berlin, Germany, Davidson emigrated to the United States in the 1890s where he began working in stock theater and vaudeville. He entered silent movies in 1912. By the mid-teens, Davidson had appeared in his first feature film, Edward Dillon's Don Quixote (1915), followed by D.W. Griffith's Intolerance, and Tod Browning's Puppets (both 1916). In the 1920s, he began working for Hal Roach, appearing in numerous two-reeler comedies including Call of the Cuckoo with Charley Chase, Pass the Gravy and Get 'Em Young with Stan Laurel, Why Girls Say No and Love 'Em and Feed 'Em with Oliver Hardy, and The Extra Girl with Mabel Normand. He also portrayed the crazy old man who haunts a house in the Our Gang short Moan and Groan, Inc. (1929), and starred alongside a young Jackie Coogan in a pair of silent features, The Rag Man (1923) and Old Clothes (1925).[2] He also received the colorization treatment as an irate shopkeeper in the Three Stooges film No Census, No Feeling (1940).
Later career and death
Davidson made the transition to sound film, but ended his career by playing mostly uncredited roles. He made his final screen appearance in the 1945 Clark Gable film Adventure. Davidson died on September 4, 1950 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California.
Filmography
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This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Year Title Role Notes 1913 Scenting a Terrible Crime The Superintendent 1914 An Interrupted Séance Landlord 1915 Caught by the Handle Mr. Riche 1916 Sunshine Dad Mystic Seer 1916 Intolerance Neighbor 1917 A Daughter of the Poor Joe Eastman Alternative titles: The Heart of the Poor
The Spitfire1918 The Hun Within Max 1919 The Mother and the Law The Kindly Neighbor 1921 No Woman Knows 1922 Second Hand Rose Abe Rosenstein 1923 The Darling of New York Solomon Levinsky 1924 Hold Your Breath Street Merchant 1925 The Rag Man Max Ginzberg 1925 Justice of the Far North Izzy Hawkins 1926 Raggedy Rose Moe Ginsberg 1927 Hotel Imperial Elias Butterman 1927 Pleasure Before Business Sam Weinberg 1927 Jewish Prudence Papa Gimplewart 1928 Feed 'em and Weep Max, restaurant manager 1929 So This Is College Moe Levine, the tailor 1929 Moan and Groan, Inc. The lunatic 1930 The Shrimp Professor Schoenheimer 1931 Oh! Oh! Cleopatra Royal musician 1932 Docks of San Francisco Max, Detective 1933 The Cohens and Kellys in Trouble Larsen Uncredited 1934 Straight Is the Way Old clothes man Uncredited 1935 Metropolitan Tailor Uncredited 1936 Roamin' Wild Abe Wineman 1937 The Girl Said No Max Alternative title: With Words and Music 1939 The Great Commandment Old man 1940 Kitty Foyle: The Natural History of a Woman Flower man Uncredited 1940 No Census, No Feeling Storekeeper Uncredited 1942 Reap the Wild Wind Juror Uncredited 1945 Adventure Man in library Uncredited References
External links
- Max Davidson at the Internet Movie Database
- Max Davidson at AllRovi
- Max Davidson at Find a Grave
Categories:- 1875 births
- 1950 deaths
- German expatriates in the United States
- German emigrants to the United States
- German film actors
- German silent film actors
- German Jews
- Hal Roach Studios actors
- Actors from Berlin
- Silent film comedians
- Vaudeville performers
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