For over 30 years he was a fixture in Hollywood films that were set in England, Ireland or Scotland, His first film appearance was as Jock Gordon in The Lilac Sunbonnet (1922) which told the story of a supposedly innocent young girl who is anything but as an ingenue. Harvey played a man smitten with love. During his time in Hollywood, he made some 116 films 14 of which were silents, when sound came his character roles developed with the sound of his voice often being cast as a cockney tradesman, family gardener or a pub inhabitant. His more famous roles came in the 30's when he was cast as Beamish , part of a scheming safari group in the Johnny Weissmuller film Tarzan, l'homme singe (1932). In 1933, he was cast as Herbert the innkeeper, in the classic L'homme invisible (1933) opposite Una O'Connor as his wife and they all but stole the film from Claude Rains. Other roles included Bradshaw in Frank Capra's La course de Broadway Bill (1934), Twiddle in Le loup-garou (1941), and Mr Huggins in Madame Miniver (1942).