From Wikipedia
He was born Willet Melbourne MacDowell in Little Washington, New Jersey (now South River, New Jersey).
MacDowell began appearing in silent films in 1917 by which time he was long a stage veteran. His co-stars were such actors as William S. Hart, Lon Chaney, Charles Ray, Enid Bennett and numerous others. Though he lived until the early 1940s, his film career ended in 1928 with the end of silent films. He returned for one sound film short in 1932, A Fool About Women with Andy Clyde and Vernon Dent.
Several films that Melbourne MacDowell appeared in survive today and can be found on DVD, particularly two of his outing with Lon Chaney, Nomads of the North and Outside the Law.
'Bully' Haynes
Mr. Adler
Senator Rollins
Kingsley Sr
Vorhees
'Black Jack' Hovey
John Calhoun
Daniel Rawley
Bennson
Jeremiah Prentiss
Jim Bradley
Mr. Bartlett-Cooper
Duncan McDougall
Peter Cameron
Frisbie Family Patriarch
James Bradley
Morgan Spencer
Jonathan Cosgrove
Doug Johnson
Mr. Langham
The Warden
Mr. Fleming
Mark Mills
Murray Lemantier
Judge McClure
Godfrey Stanton
Grant Appleby
Mr. Bigbee
Red Gull
Her Uncle Wilberforce
Cyrus K. Wharton
Eliot Vinton
David Walton / Truman Breese
David Torrence
George Armitage
Kane's father