Harry Carey, Jr., had been reliable character actor for decades, mostly in Westerns, before he retired. He is the son of the actor Harry Carey and the actress Olive Carey. He was born on his parents' 1000-acre ranch near Saugus, in the northwestern part of Los Angeles County, which is now next door to Santa Clarita, a large town that certainly did not exist in 1947 or for decades longer. Thus, the young Harry Carey, Jr., grew up among cattle and horses at the ranch. Because of a large group of Navajo Indians who worked on his parents' ranch, he learned to speak the Navajo language at the same time that he was learning to speak English.
During World War II, Carey enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and he served in the Pacific Theater first as a Navy medical corpsman. However, he was transferred back to the United States (against his wishes) to serve under his father's good friend, the director John Ford, in making movies for the Navy (training films)and the O.S.S. (propaganda films).
After World War II ended, Carey tried to make a career in singing, but he was not successful at this. Hence, he moved into acting, and after a couple of small acting parts, he was given a chance to work in a motion picture with his father, the John Wayne film Red River (1948). (However, the father and the son did not have any scenes with one another). After the death of Harry Carey, Sr., in 1946, Mr. Ford gave the younger Carey a leading role in the movie that Ford dedicated to the memory of Harry Carey, Sr., in 1948, 3 Godfathers (1948).
As a full-fledged member of the noted John Ford Stock Company, Carey, Jr., appeared in many of Mr. Ford's epic Westerns during the following two decades. Carey also starred in a series-within-a-series on TV, The Adventures of Spin and Marty (1955), which was shown as a part of The Mickey Mouse Club (1955). Very boyish looks characterized Carey's early years, but he matured into a strong and familiar character actor over the following four decades, and he acted in scores of films and TV programs in his long career. Carey, Jr., is married to Marilyn Fix Carey, the daughter of the actor Paul Fix.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Jim Beaver
Harry Carey Jr.. was born on May 16, 1921, at the ranch of his parents, actors Olive Carey and Harry Carey. His father gave him the nickname "Dobe" shortly after his birth because the baby's red hair reminded him of the adobe soil at the ranch. Dobe went to school in the Newhall Public Schools, and then went to the Black Foxe Military Institute in Hollywood.
The young Dobe's dream was to become a classical singer like the opera singer/movie star Lawrence Tibbett, and he moved to New York City to study voice. In 1939 Dobe got his first paying job as a performer at the New York World's Fair, as a horse-rider in the show "Railroads on Parade." He become a page at the National Broadcasting Co. in 1941, but with the declaration of war he joined the Navy. In his three years as a sailor he served as a medical corpsman before being transferred to director John Ford's photographic unit, which was part of the Navy but also worked for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the predecessor of the CIA. Ford had been the director on many Dobe's father's silent westerns and was close to his parents. Dobe protested against the transfer, but it was made nonetheless.
Dobe married Marilyn Fix, the daughter of the actor Paul Fix, in 1944 while he was on leave from in the Navy. They have remained married for over 60 years, and have four children and three grandchildren (so far).
After being discharged from the Navy at the end of the war, Carey followed his father into acting in 1946 by accepting a role in Rolling Home (1946), and then following it up with a featured role in Raoul Walsh's Pursued (1947). Carey's long association with John Wayne began in Howard Hawks's classic western Red River (1948), and his long-time acting association with Ford began with his role as "The Abilene Kid" in 3 Godfathers (1948), a movie that was dedicated to his father, who had passed away in 1947. Ford had been the director of the original version of this movie in 1919, which had starred Carey's father. John Wayne was Carey's co-star, and the pair acted together in nine more movies.
Carey became a member in good standing of John Ford's stock company of actors. He appeared in the Ford/Wayne films She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), Rio Grande (1950) and The Searchers (1956), and with Ford but without Wayne in Wagon Master (1950) and The Long Gray Line (1955). Carey also appeared in Mister Roberts (1955) (which was begun by Ford but completed by Mervyn LeRoy after a couple of weeks of filming). He worked with Ford again in Two Rode Together (1961), and in Cheyenne Autumn (1964) without Wayne. Other movies filmed in which he worked with Wayne, but not Ford, were Island in the Sky (1953), Rio Bravo (1959), The Undefeated (1969), Big Jake (1971) and Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973). In total, Harry Carey Jr. appeared in nearly 100 movies and almost 100 television programs.
Carey has also made two film documentaries, John Ford's America (1989) and Legends of the West (1992), and wrote the book "Company of Heroes: My Life As An Actor In the John Ford Stock Company." Carey appeared with his father, Harry Carey Sr. in just one film, Red River (1948), although the two Careys did not have any scenes together. Dobe was cast in two movies with his mother, Olive Carey: The Searchers (1956) and Two Rode Together (1961).
In 1987 Dobe was awarded a Golden Boot by the Motion Picture & Television Fund Foundation, and in 2003 he won a Silver Spur Award from Reel Cowboys. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, awarded for his television activities, located at 6363 Hollywood Blvd.