Harlan Briggs

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Harlan Briggs August 17 1879 January 26 1952 was an American actor and vaudeville performer who was active from the 1930s until his death in 1952 During the course of his career he appeared on Broadway in over 100 films as well as appearing on television once towards the end of his career Briggs was born in Blissfield Michigan Although he was a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School he chose to go into acting rather than pursue a career in law His acting career began in vaudeville at around the beginning of the 20th century He would make his Broadway debut in 1926 in the drama Up the Line He worked steadily on Broadway through 1935 On August 6 1929 he began a successful run in the featured role of G A Appleby in Its a Wise Child at the Belasco Theatre In 1934 he had another featured role in the successful play Dodsworth as Tubby Pearson The show opened at the Shubert Theatre on February 24 1934 and ran for 147 performances starring Walter Huston as Samuel Dodsworth After a sixweek hiatus the show reopened at the Shubert on August 20 and ran for an additional 168 performances When Samuel Goldwyn bought the rights to the play Briggs was one of two of the original Broadway cast to reprise their roles in the film the other being Huston in the title role Briggs would focus on his film career for the remainder of the 1930s before returning to Broadway in the 1940s combining both stage and screen performances during that decade The most successful of his Broadway appearances in the 1940s was as Constable Small in Ramshackle Inn which featured ZaSu Pitts in her Broadway debut The Story of Mary Surratt in which Briggs appeared in 1947 was Briggs 400th play Beginning with Dodsworth Briggs worked consistently in films over the next 16 years until his death in 1952 appearing in over 100 films His most famous role was as Dr Stall in the 1940 comedy classic The Bank Dick starring WC Fields Other notable films in which he appeared include After the Thin Man 1936 Stella Dallas 1937 Having Wonderful Time 1938 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 1939 Mr Smith Goes to Washington 1939 My Little Chickadee 1940 Abe Lincoln in Illinois 1940 State Fair 1945 Night and Day 1946 Little Women 1949 Goodbye My Fancy 1951 and Carrie 1952 The last film on which Briggs worked was The Sea Hornet which was in production in April and May 1951 and released later that year On January 26 1952 Briggs died in Motion Picture Television Country House and Hospital from complications resulting from a heart attack His death occurred almost half a year prior to the release of Carrie Briggs married actress Viola Scott on July 3 1914 They had four sons