Robert Harron |
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Robert Harron Biography |
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Born Robert Emmett Harron in New York City, New York, U.S., he was second oldest child of nine siblings in a poor, working-class Irish-Catholic family. He attended the Christian Brothers school in Greenwich Village and beginning at the age of thirteen found work as a messenger boy for American Biograph Studios to help support his family. Within a year of working for Biograph, Robert Harron and Christian Brothers friend and classmate James Smith were noticed by newly hired director D.W. Griffith who put both young boys under contract and the pair began appearing in bit parts for the studio. His first film was the now lost 1907 Biograph short Bobby`s Kodak. Harron quickly became a favorite of Griffith and Griffith began to give the 14-year-old increasingly larger film roles.
The teenaged Robert Harron was often cast by Griffith in the role of the "sensitive" and "naïve" boy, who was overwhelmingly sympathetic and appealing to American film-goers in the very early years of American motion pictures and not far removed from Harron`s real-life persona; Harron was often described as a quiet and soft-spoken youth. It was these traits that helped garner much public interest in the young actor, especially amongst young female fans. In 1912 alone, Robert Harron appeared in nearly forty films at Biograph. 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 Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Wallace Reid, Harold Lockwood, Carol Dempster 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. Robert 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. By 1920 however, it was reported that film director D. W. Griffith`s interest in the young actor had waned and when Griffith hired film actor Richard Barthelmess to star in his 1920 film Way Down East, Harron was inconsolable. On September 5, 1920, while in New York City to attend the film premiere of Way Down East, Harron fatally shot himself in the left lung in his hotel room with a revolver that he had placed in a jacket. Supposedly the weapon was purchased during the afternoon from a street begger as Harron did not believe in just handing out money unless something was bought. That was done because he wanted people to feel as if they actually earned the funds given. The shooting story is related as that while changing jackets for the evening`s event, the gun fell out of the pocket and when it struck the floor the bullet was released. Although the death was officially ruled accidental, many historians believe that Harron committed suicide. However, many of those closest to the actor vehemently refuted that Harron, a devout Catholic, would ever have considered suicide. While on his deathbed, Harron reportedly confided to his boyhood priest that his gunshot wound was the result of an accident. Nevertheless, in preparation for a |
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BiographyFriends and FamilyEdna [Sister] :: Mary [Sister] :: Charles [Brother] :: John Harron [Brother] :: Agnes [Sister] (became a nun) :: Madeline [Sister] :: Theresa (Tessie) [Sister] :: Anne Harron [Mother] :: John Harron Sr. [Father]Trivia and QuotesTrivia His parents were John Harron Sr. (1867-1930) and Anne Harron (1870-1955). Both outlived their son. Robert had eight other brothers and sisters. In addition to actor/brother John Harron, they included Charles, Theresa (Tessie), Madeline, Agnes (who became a nun), Mary, Edna, and a girl who died in childhood. A few of Robert`s other brothers and sisters also appeared in his films as extras. Of all nine children, John was the only one to marry and continue a new generation. He had one daughter, Collene, who went on to have nine children of her own. D.W. Griffith`s legendary cameraman, G.W. Bitzer, gave this first-hand account of his friend Harron`s mysterious death: "He lived . . . long enough to make his confession and receive the sacraments from Father William Humphrey . . . the priest who had brought him as a boy to the old Biograph studio . . . Bobby would not have lied to him . . . His death marked the end of an era. With Bobby`s passing, some thread of unity seemed to leave us . . . We felt that Bobby had brought us luck when he came to us so young and eager After Bobby`s death in 1920, it was never the same again." Harron`s tragic death remains a mystery. Officially classified an accident, those who follow that theory believe that Harron, who was in New York on September 2, 1920, for the premiere of D.W. Griffith`s Way Down East (1920), which was scheduled for the next day, purchased a revolver from a man who needed money, put it in his dinner jacket pocket and forgot about it. Later he took the dinner jacket from a trunk, the gun fell to the floor and discharged, striking him in the left lung. Those who maintain that Bobby`s death was a suicide claim that Bobby was extremely despondent when Griffith bypassed him for the lead role in "Way Down East" in favor of his new protégé, Richard Barthelmess. At the time Bobby was contemplating leaving the Griffith fold and forming his own production company because of those concerns. Brother of actress Tessie Harron (1896-1918), who appeared unbilled with him in Hearts of the World (1918). Brother of John Harron Off screen pseudonym: Willie McBain | ||
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