Donald Meek (1878 - 1946)

Donald Meek was a Scottish American character actor, born in Glasgow, Scotland, on July 14, 1878. He first worked as a stage actor and later became a film actor, starring in many movies including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, State Fair, The Toast of New York, Jesse James, Air Raid Warden (with Laurel and Hardy), and My Little Chickadee (with W.C. Fields). He was often cast as a timid, worrisome character in many of his films and is perhaps best known for his roles as Mr. Poppins in You Can't Take it With You in 1938 and as Samuel Peacock in John Ford's Stagecoach in 1939. From 1931 through 1932, Meek was featured as criminologist Dr. Crabtree in a series of twelve Warner Brothers two- reel short subjects written by S.S. Van Dine.

Before becoming an actor, Meek fought in the Spanish-American War where he contracted yellow fever which caused him to lose his hair. Donald Meek died in Los Angeles on November 18, 1946, at the age of 68. He is interred at the mausoleum in Fairmount Cemetery, Denver, Colorado.