Robert Harron

Today screen actor Robert (Bobby) Harron is one of Hollywood's forgotten souls, although he was a huge celebrity in his time and he graced some of the silent screen's most enduring masterpieces. A talented, charismatic star in his heyday, Bobby had everything going for him but he died far too young to make the longstanding impression he certainly deserved to make.

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 looking for work when he was still quite young. At the age of 13 he found a job working for the American Biograph Studio on East 14th Street as a messenger boy and he was given a couple of film bit parts 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 silent movies, usually playing characters that were much younger and much more naive than he was in real life. He appeared opposite 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 of leaving the Griffith fold and of 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 is claimed that 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 actor siblings who also died quite young: Tessie Harron (1896-1918) died of Spanish influenza at the age of 22, and John Harron (1904-1939), nicknamed Johnnie, collapsed and died of spinal meningitis at the age of 35. Both appeared, though unbilled, with Bobby in Hearts of the World (1918).