--At age four, he made his stage debut in Chicago at the Grand Opera House.
--Charles Frohman, a leading Broadway producer, attended one of Donald's performances and contracted the boy as the highest paid juvenile actor in New York.
--Grace and Donald moved to New York City and Donald appeared in numerous theatrical productions including "A Royal Family," "The Kentucky Boy" and "Alias Jimmy Valentine," the hit play of 1910, based on a short story by O. Henry. He played the juvenile role of Jimmy. View a list of his Broadway credits.
--Donald also made an appearance as one of the children in the 1903 film "The Great Train Robbery."
--As Donald matured, he played opposite such actors as Helen Hayes, Ethel Barrymore, Alfred Lunt and Theda Bara on stage.
--He appeared as a romantic lead in a variety of Thanhouser Films (circa 1914) and was featured in "Eye for Eye (1918)," a silent directed by Nazimova.
--Later, Donald produced Broadway plays, including the 1925 hit, "The Gorilla."
--In Hollywood, he directed a few early talkies for Fox Films featuring such actors as Mae Clarke (grapefruit-in-the-face actress in James Cagney's "Public Enemy") and Rex Bell, husband of Clara Bow. Donald's film, "Temple Tower (1930)," is among the 250 films specially preserved from nitrate destruction at the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
--He is sometimes listed as Donald Gallagher under his film credits.
--In the 1930s, he served as Associate Managing Producer for the Federal Theatre Project in New York.
--Returning to Hollywood at the end of the decade, he appeared in a few "B" westerns and working as Bing Crosby's dialogue director at Paramount Pictures. He also appeared in George Cukor's "Keeper of the Flame (1942)" with Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn.
Some personal family details:
-- His first son, Donald Gallaher Jr., was born a year after his 1917 marriage to actress Beatrice Noyes, and died in Ohio in 1986. Donald Sr. divorced Beatrice soon after his son was born.
-- Donald later married a woman named Louise, with whom he may have had a son Tony.
-- Together with his last wife, Virginia, the couple had three children, Dennis, Terry and Kelly.
--Donald died in Los Angeles in 1961.
--Donald's niece, Cynthia Gallaher, would like to hear from anyone interested in theater and film from these eras. E-mail or write her at P.O. Box 2890, Chicago, Illinois 60690.
-More photos and filmography of Donald Gallaher, including the 1912 play "Snow White," the 1918 Nazimova silent film "Eye for Eye," and later publicity pictures.
