Robert Harron

Harron's first breakthrough role was in the modern sequence of "Intolerance" (1916). His striking performance as a small-town boy who gets involved in big-city crime and is movingly redeemed by love was one of the film's high points. Another tour de force was as a front-line soldier in "Hearts of the World" (1918). More typical were his turns as shy, gawky swains in "The Greatest Thing in Life" (1918) and "A Romance of Happy Valley" (1919). That year, Harron was also paired with Griffith newcomer Clarine Seymour in "The Girl Who Stayed at Home"; he also acted with Seymour in Griffith's delightful Lillian Gish vehicle, "True Heart Susie" (1919). Harron was signed by Metro in 1920, but made only one film for them, "Coincidence" (released posthumously in 1921) before dying mysteriously in New York. Harron, who was reportedly engaged to Dorothy Gish, went East for the premiere of her film "Way Down East." On September 1, 1920, he was shot in the lung by a gun which--he said--fell out of his jacket while he was unpacking. He died on September 5 and his death was listed as "accidental." Harron was the brother of leading man and character actor John (a.k.a. Johnnie) Harron, as well as actor Charles Harron, who died in an auto accident in 1915, and actress Tessie Harron, who died in the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918.