David Manners
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David Manners (April 30, 1901 – December 23, 1998) was a Canadian film actor.
Born Rauff de Rither Duan Acklom in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Manners came to Hollywood at the beginning of the talking films revolution after studying acting with Eva Le Gallienne, and acting on stage with Helen Hayes.
He was "discovered" by the film director James Whale, and within a few years, he was a popular leading man, playing opposite such up and coming actresses as Katharine Hepburn, Gloria Stuart, Myrna Loy, Loretta Young, and Ann Dvorak, and he was paired several times with Helen Chandler.
His most widely seen role was as Jonathan Harker in Tod Browning's Dracula (1931) starring Bela Lugosi, though he commented throughout his life that he had never watched the film and did not intend to. In interviews towards the end of his life he was still urging well-wishing fans not to send him video copies of the film.
After the success of "Dracula", Manners worked for several years as a romantic leading man, and was most often seen in a tuxedo in romantic comedies and light dramas. The Last Flight (1931) , a Lost Generation celebration of alcohol in Paris, and Karl Freund's The Mummy (1932) with Boris Karloff were two standouts. By 1936 he had grown bored with Hollywood, and abandoned his film career. In 1940, he officially changed his name to David Joseph Manners and became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He returned to the theater where he worked regularly until his retirement in the 1950s. He spent the remainder of his life in private pursuits, such as writing and painting.
He died in Santa Barbara, California on December 23, 1998 at the age of 97.
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