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. 14th 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.
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–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.
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