George William Crisp was born in the district of Bow, London, England in 1882.

Following military service in the South African War, he decided to emigrate to the U.S.A. Changing his name to Donald George Crisp he worked as a stage manager before joining the Biograph Company as a movie actor. The motion picture industry based in New York was growing fast and needed room to expand. When Biograph sent a crew out to California to film at a small village called Hollywood, Donald Crisp accompanied the actors and technicians as the director's assistant.

In addition to playing Jock Gray in M.G.M.'s 'Challenge to Lassie' he also played James Brown the gardener of Greyfriars Kirk in Disney's 'Greyfriars Bobby'.

When Donald Crisp died in 1974 he was buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, Los Angeles County, California.