Classic Movie Travels: Robert Harron

Classic Movie Travels: Robert Harron

Robert Emmett Harron was born on April 12, 1893, to John and
Anne Harron in New York, New York. He was the second oldest of nine children
growing up in this Irish Catholic family. Over the years, his father worked
several different jobs, including working at an oil station, as a stableman in
a livery stable, and as a night watchman.

Harron attended Saint John Parochial School in Greenwich
Village and, by age 14, started to work as an errand boy at the Biograph
Company. There, he cleaned and appeared in occasional shorts to help earn money
for his family.

While at Biograph, Harron caught the attention of director
D.W. Griffith and quickly became one of his favorite actors. Gradually, Harron
appeared in more significant film roles. He initially appeared in comedic
shorts for Griffith. As he entered his teen years, his roles transitioned to
naïve boy characters meant to broadly appeal to American moviegoers. By 1912,
Harron appeared in almost forty films for Biograph and was one of the studio’s
rising stars.

Harron’s most significant roles were in Griffith’s epics: Judith of Bethulia (1914), The Birth of a Nation (1915), and Intolerance (1916). Among his most
popular roles was his starring role alongside Lillian Gish in Griffith’s
romance, True Heart Susie (1919).

Harron routinely worked with other top Biograph stars,
including the likes of Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, and Mae Marsh. Off-screen,
he was romantically involved with Dorothy Gish.

By 1920, his leading man roles began to diminish, with these
roles more frequently being assigned to Richard Barthelmess. Griffith
ultimately loaned Harron out to Metro Pictures for a four-film deal. His first
film for Metro would incidentally be the last film of his career: Coincidence (1921), released one year
after his passing.

In August of 1920, Harron traveled from Los Angeles to New
York City to attend the premiere of Griffith’s Way Down East (1920) as well as a preview of Coincidence (1921). Harron checked into the Hotel Seymour with friend,
screenwriter, and director Victor Heerman. The two of them attended the preview
screening but it reportedly received a poor reception from its audience.
Following the screening, Harron returned to the hotel and sustained a gunshot
wound to his chest. Reports claim that Harron had a gun in his trunk and that,
while removing clothes from the trunk, the gun fell out and discharged. Harron
called the hotel desk for help, initially refusing an ambulance and wishing for
a doctor to visit his room instead. When a doctor could not immediately be found,
he agreed to have the hotel call for an ambulance. He was taken to Bellevue
Hospital. While receiving treatment, he was arrested for possessing a firearm
without a permit. As a result, he was placed in the hospital prison ward.

After the injury, there were also reports speculating that
he was disappointed in his not being cast in Way Down East (1920) and attempted suicide as Barthelmess was cast
in the leading man role; however, his friends and peers fiercely denied this
theory.

Though Harron
appeared to be recovering, his health took a turn four days after he was shot.
He died on September 5, 1920, at age 27. He was interred at Calvary Cemetery in
Queens, New York City. Altogether, he appeared in roughly 220 films.

On September 26, 1920, a joint memorial
service was held for Harron, actress Clarine Seymour (who died after undergoing
emergency surgery while filming Way Down
East), Orner Locklear (a daredevil stunt pilot and actor who perished in an
airplane crash), and actress Olive Thomas (who passed from an accidental
overdose). All were eulogized by director William Desmond Taylor, whose own
still unsolved murder occurred 18 months later.

Today, some of Harron’s homes remain.

In 1910, his family resided at 49 King St., New York, New
York, which stands.

In 1916, he maintained a residence at 641 St Paul Ave., Los
Angeles, California, which has since been razed.

In 1917, he resided at 323 W. 14^th St., New York,
New York, which also stands.

In 1920, he shared a home with his parents and siblings at
1751 Vine St., Los Angeles, which has been razed.

Bellevue Hospital remains the oldest public hospital in the United States.

…

–Annette Bochenek for Classic Movie Hub

Annette Bochenek pens our monthly Classic Movie Travels column. You can read all of Annette’s Classic Movie Travel articles here.

Annette Bochenek of Chicago, Illinois, is a PhD student at Dominican University and an independent scholar of Hollywood’s Golden Age. She manages the Hometowns to Hollywood blog, in which she writes about her trips exploring the legacies and hometowns of Golden Age stars. Annette also hosts the “Hometowns to Hollywood” film series throughout the Chicago area. She has been featured on Turner Classic Movies and is the president of TCM Backlot’s Chicago chapter. In addition to writing for Classic Movie Hub, she also writes for Silent Film Quarterly, Nostalgia Digest, and Chicago Art Deco SocietyMagazine.