Harry Carey (January 16, 1878 - September 21, 1947) was an American actor and one of silent film's earliest superstars.

Born Henry DeWitt Carey II in The Bronx, New York, he was the son of a prominent lawyer and judge. He attended Hamilton Military Academy then studied law at New York University.

Althogh Carey received an Oscar nomination for his role as the Vice President in the 1939 film, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, he is best rememberd as one of the first stars of the Western film genre. He married actress Olive Fuller Golden (1896-1988) and they purchased a large ranch in Saugus, California , north of Los Angeles. Their son, Harry Carey, Jr. would become a character actor, also most famous for his roles in Westerns. They appeared together in the 1948 film, Red River.

On his passing, Harry Carey was interred in Woodlawn Cemetery in the family mausoleum in The Bronx, New York. In 1976, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Harry Carey has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1521 Vine Street.

Harry Carey began his film career in 1909. Over the next forty plus years he performed in more than two hundred and fifty films. A few of them are:

• Trader Horn (1930)
• Barbary Coast (1935)
• Valiant Is the Word for Carrie (1936)
• Kid Galahad (1937)
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
• The Spoilers (1942)
• Duel in the Sun (1946)
• Red River (1948)

See also

• Other notable figures in Western films