Gwen Davenport, 91; Novelist Known for ‘Belvedere’ Series

Gwen Davenport, 91, a novelist best known for “Belvedere,” a story about a curmudgeonly English housekeeper that was made into three movies and a sitcom, died of congestive heart failure Saturday at a Louisville, Ky., nursing home.

“Belvedere,” published in 1947, was a light, comic novel about the adventures of an English butler who goes to work for a dysfunctional American family to obtain material for a book. It inspired the ABC television series “Mr. Belvedere,” which ran from 1985 to 1990 and starred actor Christopher Hewett.

Earlier, it had formed the basis for three movies starring Clifton Webb, beginning in 1948 with “Sitting Pretty.” He also starred in “Mr. Belvedere Goes to College” and “Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell.”

Davenport was born in Panama to a Navy physician and his wife. Among her other novels were “Bachelor’s Baby,” “The Wax Foundation” and “Candy for Breakfast.”