- Born
- Died
- Birth nameRobert Emmet Harron
- Nickname
- Bobby
- Height5′ 10″ (1.78 m)
- Today screen actor Robert (Bobby) Harron is one of Hollywood's forgotten souls, although he was a huge celebrity in his time and graced some of the silent screen's most enduring masterpieces. A talented, charismatic star in his heyday, Bobby had everything going for him but died far too young to make the longstanding impression he certainly deserved.
Bobby was born one of nine children in New York City to an impoverished Irish-American family. In order to put food on the table, Bobby started out quite young looking for work. At age 13 he found a job working for the American Biograph Studio on East 14th Street as a messenger boy and was given a couple of film bits for added measure. Within the next year director D.W. Griffith had joined the company and the sensitive, highly photogenic Bobby caught the legendary director's eye almost immediately.
Bobby subsequently had leading roles in many of Griffith's classic silents, usually playing characters that were much younger and much more naive than in real life. He appeared opposite other legendary female stars who also played "young-ish" roles, notably Mae Marsh and Lillian Gish. Bobby made indelible impressions in The Birth of a Nation (1915), Intolerance (1916), An Old Fashioned Young Man (1917), Hearts of the World (1918), A Romance of Happy Valley (1919) and True Heart Susie (1919).
Bobby had become such a sensation that in 1920 he entertained thoughts about leaving the Griffith fold and forming his own company. A fatal, self-inflicted bullet wound to the left lung in September of 1920 ended those dreams before they ever got off the ground. Although it was listed as an "accidental" death, Hollywood rumor has it that a despondent Bobby killed himself in a New York hotel room on the eve of the premiere of Griffith's new film Way Down East (1920). It seems Bobby was devastated after being passed over by Griffith for the lead role in favor of the director's new protégé, Richard Barthelmess. Whatever the truth may be, Bobby's death remains a tragic mystery. Ironically, Bobby had two lesser known sibling actors who also died quite young. Tessie Harron (1896-1918) died at age 22 of Spanish influenza, and John Harron (1904-1939), nicknamed Johnnie, collapsed and died of spinal meningitis at age 35. Both appeared unbilled in Hearts of the World (1918) with Bobby.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
- RelativesJohn Harron(Sibling)Tessie Harron(Sibling)
- 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.
- Robert had eight other brothers and sisters. In addition to actor/brother John Harron (1904-1939), they included Charles Peter (1892-1915) who was the eldest and died in a Christmas Eve car accident), Anna Teresa (Tessie) who died during the Spanish influenza epidemic), Madeline, Agnes (who became a nun), Mary, Edna, and Frances Veronica (1907-1909) who died as a child. 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, Colleene, 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."
- Although he played Lillian Gish's brother in The Birth of a Nation (1915), he also donned blackface and played one of the black townsfolk in a crowd scene when director D.W. Griffith was short an extra.
- Brother of actress Tessie Harron (1896-1918), who appeared unbilled with him in Hearts of the World (1918).
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content