Donald Meek
Known for
Long careers are rarer than they look, and Donald Meek has become a familiar face recognizable to viewers well beyond any single title. 'You Can't Take It with You' is close behind in visibility. 111 credits across 103 years is a rate most careers never reach. 'Stagecoach' sits at the front of the filmography, where he plays Samuel Peacock.
Donald Meek
111 Movies
Long careers are rarer than they look, and Donald Meek has become a familiar face recognizable to viewers well beyond any single title. 'You Can't Take It with You' is close behind in visibility. 111 credits across 103 years is a rate most careers never reach. 'Stagecoach' sits at the front of the filmography, where he plays Samuel Peacock.
Movies
Plays Samuel Peacock
Stagecoach
1939
Plays Chester Klazenfrantz
Bathing Beauty
1944
Plays Eustace Middling
Air Raid Wardens
1943
Plays Poppins
You Can't Take It with You
1938
Plays Professor Charles W. Birdo
The Wild Man of Borneo
1941
Plays McCoy
Jesse James
1939
Plays Mr. Twiddle
Magic Town
1947
Plays Dr. Whacker
Captain Blood
1935
Plays Mr. Slade
Peter Ibbetson
1935
Plays Moxley
Society Doctor
1935
Plays Sunday School Superintendent
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
1938
Plays Durkin
Hi, Nellie!
1934
Plays Prosecutor John Felder
Young Mr. Lincoln
1939
Plays Herman Rundvik
A Woman's Face
1941
Plays Valet
The Merry Widow
1934
Plays Nicholas Daniel Murphy
Parnell
1937
Plays McCoy
The Return of Frank James
1940
Plays Mr. Nizby
Two Girls and a Sailor
1944
Plays Willie Crump
The Thin Man Goes Home
1944
Plays Mr. Stone
Babes on Broadway
1941
Plays Dr. Doskil
Mark of the Vampire
1935
Plays Mr. Jones / Duc de Choiseul
Du Barry Was a Lady
1943
Plays Peter Mulligan
The Informer
1935
Plays Gramp Smith
Pennies from Heaven
1936
Plays 'Dusty' King
Blonde Inspiration
1941
Plays Joe Darsie
Come Live with Me
1941
Plays Mr. Irish, Moose Village General Store
Biography of a Bachelor Girl
1935
Plays Mittelmeyer
Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet
1940
Plays Mr Arbuthnot
Keeper of the Flame
1943
Plays Paul D. Cummings
Tortilla Flat
1942
Plays Hippenstahl
State Fair
1945
Plays Hoyt
The Whole Town's Talking
1935
Plays Daniel Drew
The Toast of New York
1937
Plays Sawbuck McTavish
Barbary Coast
1935
Plays Little Old Man
They Got Me Covered
1943
Plays Willoughby Wendling
Little Miss Broadway
1938
Plays Amos Budge
My Little Chickadee
1940
Plays Fogg
The Defense Rests
1934
Plays P.U. Rogers
Having Wonderful Time
1938
Plays Ezra Cheeves
Maid of Salem
1937
Plays Mortimer Hopkins, Sr.
The Ghost Comes Home
1940
Plays Bartholomew, the bee man
Nick Carter, Master Detective
1939
Plays Editor Wilson
The Housekeeper's Daughter
1939
Plays Mr. Flandrin
Third Finger, Left Hand
1940
Plays Uncle Wyndersham
She Couldn't Take It
1935
Plays Josephus Bushmills
The Captain Hates the Sea
1934
Plays Skinner
Baby Face Harrington
1935
Plays Joseph
Make a Wish
1937
Plays Lyle P. Stout
Hollywood Cavalcade
1939
Plays Professor Catty
Lost Angel
1943
Latest Trailers
Watch Trailer
The Thin Man Goes Home
Full Filmography
Magic Town
Mr. Twiddle
1947
Film
The Fabulous Joe
Henry Cadwallader, Lawyer
1947
Film
Affairs of Geraldine
Casper Millhouse
1946
Film
Janie Gets Married
Harley P. Stowers
1946
Film
Colonel Effingham's Raid
Doc Buden
1946
Film
Because of Him
Martin
1946
Film
State Fair
Hippenstahl
1945
Film
The Thin Man Goes Home
Willie Crump
1944
Film
Barbary Coast Gent
Bradford Bellamy I
1944
Film
Photos
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Donald Meek still alive?
Donald Meek passed away on November 18, 1946 at age 68.
What are the most famous roles of Donald Meek?
Donald Meek is best known for roles in Stagecoach, You Can't Take It with You, Captain Blood.
How many movies has Donald Meek been in?
Over a 23-year career (since 1923), Donald Meek has appeared in 111 movies and 0 TV shows.
What was Donald Meek's first movie?
The career of Donald Meek began with Six Cylinder Love (1923).
What is Donald Meek's most recent movie or series?
Donald Meek's most recent release is Magic Town, which premiered on October 7, 1947.
Donald Meek
1878-07-13 · Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Thomas Donald Meek (14 July 1878 – 18 November 1946) was a Scottish-American actor. He first performed publicly at the age of eight and began appearing on Broadway in 1903. 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.
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 Brothers 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.