Vesey Alfred Davoren

Vesey O'Davoren (born Vesey Alfred Davoren; 8 December 1888 His mother was president of the local branch of the League of Pity. Reportedly, Davoren was a descendent of the Duke of Wellington on his mother's side. He claimed descent from two English Prime Ministers, William Pitt (1708–1778) and "Iron Duke" Arthur Wellesley (1769–1852), and said he stemmed from a family of medieval Irish scholars.

As a youth Davoren performed in plays at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.

World War I During World War I, Davoren served in the British Army with the 7th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, under the command of Colonel Charles Douglas Parry Crooke.

In October 1915, his company (B) was massacred in action around the Hohenzollern Redoubt, just after the Battle of Loos. (See Actions of the Hohenzollern Redoubt#British attacks 13–19 October 1915.) An entry in the 7th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment's War Diary on 13 October 1915, states that Davoren "was wounded [shot in foot and then side] in the action on the Hohenzollern Redoubt on 11 October, but continued to lead his Company until killed by a shot from a machine gun". Davoren was rescued, carried for , by Sergeant-Major Martin. Davoren was the only one of the 10 officers of B Company, 7th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, to survive that day, despite having been reported killed.

Following a mustard gas attack, Davoren lost his voice and was told he had six months to live should he live in a dry climate.

Career Davoren began his London stage career in 1909. and he arrived in Hollywood, California later than same year. During this period he also directed plays including a Hollywood Bowl production of The Pied Piper. and Cyril Harcourt's A Pair of Silk Stockings and along with central roles in musical comedies in Dublin and London.

Davoren's early film and stage career overlapped. In the spring of 1930, he played an elderly man in the play Rope's End while simultaneously playing a younger man in the film So This Is London, saying that he "spent one-half of the day getting my whiskers on and off". His versatility almost cost him the role of Professor Deming in the September 1930 stage production of The Poor Nut when its casting director initially did not believe that the clean-shaven Davoren could be the same actor he remembered from Rope's End.

In June 1934, The Los Angeles Times reported Davoren to be one of four "well-known actors" to be principals in the cast of the stage play The People, Inc.

He went on to have a large number of roles in sound films. He modelled for some of his wife's death masks. According to de Verley, she developed the style after her husband asked her to create his death mask after being told he had a short time to live following exposure to poison gas.

In 1937 in his backyard, Davoren built several boats, including a cabin cruiser.

He was the founder and commodore of the Topanga Yacht Club, Topanga, California, and was given the honorific sobriquet of "Captain". Despite the prominent involvement of William Randolph Hearst and the purchase of , the planned yacht harbor never materialized.

Davoren died, aged 100, on 30 May 1989 in Los Angeles.

Winds of the Pampas (1927), starring role as Eusabio The Love Captive (1934), as second butler The Girl from 10th Avenue (1935), as servant (scenes deleted) The Dark Angel (1935), voice at station (voice, uncredited) Folies Bergère de Paris (1935), as man in montage Clive of India (1935), as assistant surveyor The Right to Live (1935), as waiter The Lone Wolf Returns (1935), as Stewart's (Gail Patrick) butler Joseph Shipmates Forever (1935), as Converse, Dick Powell's butler Ants in the Pantry (1936) as Gawkins the butler with The Three Stooges Ladies in Love (1936), as Fritz Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), party guest The Golden Arrow (1936), as butler Dracula's Daughter (1936), as Butler Lloyd's of London (1936), as waiter The White Angel (1936), as Thompson, butler It's All Yours (1937), as Valet The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937), ship steward Let's Get Married (1937) as butler London By Night (1937), as Bobby Shall We Dance (1937) as steward or ship's bartender She Asked for It (1937), as Fletcher She Had to Eat (1937), as waiter Stella Dallas (1937) as Helen's butler at wedding Wife, Doctor and Nurse (1937), as butler Four Men and a Prayer (1938), Vincent, a flunky The Lady Objects (1938), as Langham Violent is the Word for Curly (1938) as Professor Hicks in a Three Stooges short Lord Jeff (1938) as Queen Mary steward Hound of the Baskervilles (1939), as ship's steward Raffles (1939), as David Niven's butler The Little Princess (1939) starring Shirley Temple in her first Technicolor film, as an orderly My Son, My Son! (1940), as the butler Dark Delusion (1947), as butler Forever Amber (1947), as Fop If Winter Comes (1947), as Tybar, butler The Late George Apley (1947), as minister Blondie's Reward (1948), as Dickson or Dickson's butler The Emperor Waltz (1948), as butler I Love Trouble (1948), Lilly, as butler A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949), as castle servant Rogues of Sherwood Forest (1950) The Milkman (1950), as Carter's butler Please Believe Me (1950), as ship's maitre d'hotel Kind Lady (1951), as pedestrian The Son of Dr. Jekyll (1951) as Sir John Utterson's (Lester Matthews's), butler Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) All the Brothers Were Valiant (1953), as the minister Let's Do It Again (1953), as Gary's butler Brigadoon (1954), as townsman The King's Thief (1955), as courier The Scarlet Coat (1955), as butler Diane (1956), as valet Telephone Time (TV series), (1956), the episode: "She Also Ran" (1956), as president's aide Until They Sail (1957), as the minister/reverend in Delia's wedding