George A. Katchme's A Biographical Dictionary of Silent Film Western Actors and Actresses gives his date of birth as April 14, 1875.

[1] Early in his career, MacDonald was a singer in minstrel shows, and he toured the United States extensively for two years with stage productions.

[2] By 1918, MacDonald, who was to become one of the most beloved character men in Hollywood,[2] had given up directing and was acting full-time, predominantly in Westerns and Irish comedies.

In all, Ford would use MacDonald on twenty-five films between 1919 and 1950, during the silent era notably in The Iron Horse (1924), 3 Bad Men (1926) and Riley the Cop (1927).

[2] With a voice that matched his personality, MacDonald made the transition to sound films easily, with no noticeable drop in his acting output – if anything, it went up.

Although he played laborers, policemen, military men and priests, among many other characters, his roles were usually a cut above a "bit part".

MacDonald appeared in Sullivan's Travels, The Palm Beach Story, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, The Great Moment, The Sin of Harold Diddlebock, Unfaithfully Yours and The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend, Sturges' last American film.