David Joseph Manners (born Rauff de Ryther Duan Acklom; April 30, 1900 – December 23, 1998) was a Canadian-American actor who played John Harker in Tod Browning's 1931 horror classic Dracula, which starred Bela Lugosi in the title role. The following year, Manners portrayed the archaeologist Frank Whemple in The Mummy (1932), another pre-Code thriller by Universal Pictures.

Early life

David Joseph Manners (originally Rauff De Ryther Duan Acklom) was born in Canada at 108 Tower Road in Halifax, Nova Scotia on April 30, 1900. His father, in Halifax, was then the headmaster of Harrow House School, a prestigious private boarding school for boys. By 1910 the entire Acklom family was living at 108 Hillside Avenue in Mount Vernon, New York, a northern suburb of New York City. Soon, perhaps in an effort to chart an entirely different course for himself professionally, Manners stopped working as an assistant publisher and returned to Canada to study forestry at the University of Toronto. He found the curriculum there boring; however, he was attracted to stage work on campus. After receiving some drama training, he made his acting debut in 1924 at the school's Hart House Theater in Euripides' play Hippolytus. Following his work on three films released in 1936—Hearts in Bondage, A Woman Rebels, and Lucky Fugitives—he left the studios and retired from film work. A year later, according to the 1930 United States census, he and his 23-year-old wife were living together in Los Angeles in a $175-a-month rental property, along with Antonio Dumles, a 22-year-old Filipino who was listed as the couple's servant. David and Suzanne's marriage proved to be a brief one; they divorced in 1932.

In 1940, he officially changed his name to David Joseph Manners (Manners being his mother's maiden name), a change that is verified by its citation in the 1940 United States census. That same census also documents that he had applied to become a naturalised citizen of the United States. It further identifies Manners as an "Author/Actor" and that he was then living in Victorville, California, residing alone in a home, part of a ranch, that he had purchased several years earlier.

He became a published novelist in 1941 with Convenient Season; a second novel, Under Running Laughter, followed in 1943. (He used the name David J. Manners for his novels, both of which were published by E.P. Dutton.)

Manners was gay. In 1948, he met playwright Frederic William Mercer and the two lived together as partners for 30 years until Mercer's death in 1978. Initially, they lived together at Manners's ranch but left Victorville in 1956 to move to another residence in Pacific Palisades.

Following his retirement from acting, Manners spent the remaining decades of his life pursuing his personal interests, including painting, writing and studying philosophy. His reflections on philosophy were presented in Look Through: An Evidence of Self Discovery, published in 1971 by El Cariso Publications.

Filmography

  • The Sky Hawk (1929) as Pilot (film debut, uncredited)
  • Journey's End (1930) as 2nd Lt. Raleigh
  • He Knew Women (1930) as Austin Lowe
  • Sweet Mama (1930) as Jimmy
  • Kismet (1930) as Caliph Abdallah
  • The Truth About Youth (1930) as Richard Dane 'The Imp'
  • Mothers Cry (1930) as Arthur 'Artie' Williams
  • The Right to Love (1930) as Joe Copeland
  • Dracula (1931) as John Harker
  • The Millionaire (1931) as Bill Merrick
  • The Miracle Woman (1931) as John Carson and
  • The Last Flight (1931) as Shep Lambert
  • The Ruling Voice (1931) as Dick Cheney
  • The Greeks Had a Word for Them (1932) as Dey Emery
  • Lady with a Past (1932) as Donnie Wainwright
  • Beauty and the Boss (1932) as Baron Paul von Ullrich
  • Man Wanted (1932) as Thomas Sherman
  • Stranger in Town (1932) as Jerry Fleming
  • Crooner (1932) as Ted 'Teddy' Taylor
  • A Bill of Divorcement (1932) as Kit
  • They Call It Sin (1932) as Jimmy Decker
  • The Death Kiss (1932) as Franklyn Drew
  • The Mummy (1932) as Frank Whemple
  • From Hell to Heaven (1933) as Wesley Burt
  • The Warrior's Husband (1933) as Theseus
  • The Girl in 419 (1933) as Dr. Martin Nichols
  • The Devil's in Love (1933) as Capt. Jean Fabien
  • Torch Singer (1933) as Michael Gardner
  • Roman Scandals (1933) as Josephus
  • The Luck of a Sailor (1934) as Captain Colin
  • The Black Cat (1934) as Peter Alison
  • The Great Flirtation (1934) as Larry Kenyon
  • The Moonstone (1934) as Franklin Blake
  • The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935) as Edwin Drood
  • The Perfect Clue (1935) as David Mannering
  • Jalna (1935) as Eden Whiteoak
  • Hearts in Bondage (1936) as Raymond Jordan
  • A Woman Rebels (1936) as Lieutenant Alan Craig Freeland
  • Lucky Fugitives (1936) as Jack Wycoff/Cy King (final film)

Bibliography

  • Clive Hirschhorn. The Warner Bros. Story (New York: Crown Publishers, New York, 1979);
  • Ephraim Katz. The Film Encyclopedia (New York: Harper Perennial, 1980);
  • David Morgan Jones. The Wonder Within You, Trafford Publishing (2006);

References and notes

  • David Manners homepage
  • David Manners 1997 interview . Retrieved October 1, 2007

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