Robert Harron

Robert Emmett Harron (April 12, 1893 – September 5, 1920)

Born in New York City, Harron was second oldest child of nine siblings in a poor, working-class

Harron attended the Saint John Parochial School in Greenwich Village.^[2] At the age of fourteen, he found work as an errand boy at American Biograph Studios near Union Square in Manhattan to help support his family.^[7] In addition to cleaning duties, Harron also appeared as an extra in a few shorts for Biograph.^[8]

Within a year of working for Biograph, Harron was noticed by newly hired director

Harron is probably best recalled for his roles in the three epic Griffith films: 1914's Judith of Bethulia, opposite Blanche Sweet, Mae Marsh, Henry B. Walthall, and Dorothy and Lillian Gish; 1915's controversial all-star cast The Birth of a Nation; and 1916's colossal multi-scenario Intolerance opposite such popular stars of the era as Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Miriam Cooper, Wallace Reid, Harold Lockwood and Mildred Harris. One of Harron's most popular roles of the era came in 1919 when he starred opposite Lillian Gish in the Griffith directed romantic film True Heart Susie.

Harron's film career continued to flourish throughout the 1910s, and he was occasionally paired with leading actresses Mae Marsh and Lillian Gish with romantic plots, often in roles that cemented his "sensitive boy" image. Harron had, in fact, a burgeoning off-screen romantic relationship with Dorothy Gish.^[10] By 1920, Harron had grown too old to continue playing the juvenile roles that had launched his career. He began losing leading man roles to Richard Barthelmess.^[11] Later that year, D.W. Griffith agreed to loan Harron to Metro Pictures for a four-picture deal. His first film for Metro, also the last film of his career, was the comedy Coincidence.^[12] The film was released in 1921, after Harron's death.

In late August 1920, Harron traveled by train from Los Angeles to New York City to attend the premiere of the film Way Down East and a preview of what would become his final film, Coincidence. Harron checked into the Hotel Seymour on September 1 with his friend, screenwriter and director Victor Heerman, with whom he was sharing a room. Harron and Heerman attended the preview for Coincidence later that day. Heerman later said that the preview went poorly, as the film was not well received by the audience.^[10]

After the premiere, Harron returned to his hotel room alone. At some point during the evening, Harron sustained a gunshot wound to the chest. According to published reports and Harron's own account, he had the gun in his trunk along with his clothes and other possessions. As he was removing clothes from the trunk, the gun fell to the floor and discharged. Harron was hit in the chest, the bullet having punctured his lung.^{[13] [14]} Harron called the hotel desk for assistance and was still conscious when the hotel manager came to his room. Not realizing he was seriously wounded, Harron joked with the manager that he was in a "devil of a fix" having shot himself. He initially refused to let the manager call an ambulance, only wanting to be examined by a local physician in his room. After a physician could not be found, Harron relented and agreed to allow the manager to call an ambulance. When medics arrived and attempted to transport Harron using a stretcher, he insisted on being taken down in a chair. As he had lost a considerable amount of blood, medics had to convince Harron that he needed to be transported on a stretcher.^[13]

Harron was taken to

Bibliography

• John Holmstrom, The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995, Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, p. 10.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Robert Harron.

• Robert Harron at
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• Robert Harron at Silents Are Golden
• Robert Harron at Find a Grave