Actress. Phyllis Rankin was an American actress and singer on stage, with a career starting at the end of the 19th century. Born the daughter of stage actress Kitty Blanchard and actor Arthur McKee Rankin, her half-sister, Doris, married Academy-Award-winning actor, Lionel Barrymore. Her son Arthur Rankin and grandson Arthur Rankin, Jr. were both successful actors. She was tutored by her father in old school drama, and as a ten-year-old, she made her first stage appearance with her parents in "Stormbeaten." She had a supporting cast role in "Sara," a play performed at the Palmer Theatre in the summer of 1890. She eventually left her father's companies and was managed by Charles Frohman. She appeared in the 1892 production of "The Check Book" and in April of 1893 she appeared in the "Arabian Nights." She did impersonations of the Polish actress Anna Held of Ziegfeld's Follies on stage in 1897. By August of 1898, she received a role in the comic opera. "The Belle of New York", which was staged at the Shaftesbury Theatre in the West End of London. In November of 1898, her photograph with a critics' review covering her performance was published in the "Journal of Art and Actuality." This followed with Rankin in a role as a housekeeper in "Three Wise Fools." Early in her career, she met actor Harry Davenport, and the couple married in 1901. Her husband Davenport received much recognition in the role of Dr. Meade in the 1939 Academy Award-winning film "Gone with the Wind." Her son from a previous marriage to Arthur Gibbs was adopted by Davenport, and later, her son became an actor under the name of Arthur Rankin. She and Davenport had three children together. The couple was in the original production of "The Belle of New York" and sang their duet "When We Are Married." After her marriage to Davenport, she left the stage for eleven years before returning in a small role in "Lightnin," in August of 1918. The couple later teamed at the historical Criterion Theatre in the West End for a production of "Three Wise Fools." Other productions in which she acted were "The Rounders," "It Happened In Nordland," and "Fascinating Flora."