Harry Fox

Harry Fox, born Arthur Carringford, (May 25, 1882 - July 20, 1959) was a vaudeville dancer, actor, and comedian.

Biography

Fox is most notably famous for being related as name-source to the Fox Trot dance in New York but there are many doubts that this is a true story. An often used narration is that his steps were recorded by dance instructor F. L. Clendenen in his 1914 book Dance Mad as "The Fox Trot, as danced by Mr. Fox" but in the book neither the dance nor Fox himself are mentioned. Harry Fox made a few recordings of popular songs and appeared in a few silent films, most notably the serial Beatrice Fairfax with Grace Darling. On Broadway in 1915 he appeared opposite Nora Bayes in the play/musical Maid in America.

In the early sound era he made some talking short films such as Harry Fox and his American Beauties and The Fox and the Bee (with his partner and wife Beatrice) but by the 1930s his fame was over and he lived a life of obscurity getting work in films playing bit parts while holding a job as a tester in an aircraft plant. In the 1920s he was briefly married to one of the famous Ziegfeld performers from The Dolly Sisters. He was still living in 1945 when the biopic The Dolly Sisters was made. The movie shows the marriage happening during World War I, a subsequent divorce, and a reunion after Jenny Dolly's accident. He was actress Evelyn Brent's third husband.