24 Facts About Robert Harron

Robert Emmett Harron was an American motion picture actor of the early silent film era.

Robert Harron's younger siblings John, Mary, and Charles became actors while one of his younger sisters, Tessie, was an extra in silent films.

Robert Harron attended the Saint John Parochial School in Greenwich Village.

Robert Harron quickly became a favorite of Griffith and Griffith began to give the 14-year-old increasingly larger film roles.

In 1912 alone, Robert Harron appeared in nearly forty films at Biograph.

Robert Harron had, in fact, a burgeoning off-screen romantic relationship with Dorothy Gish.

Robert Harron began losing leading man roles to Richard Barthelmess.

In late August 1920, Robert Harron traveled by train from Los Angeles to New York City to attend the premiere of the film Way Down East and a preview of what would become his final film, Coincidence.

At some point during the evening, Robert Harron sustained a gunshot wound to the chest.

Robert Harron was hit in the chest, the bullet having punctured his lung.

Robert Harron called the hotel desk for assistance and was still conscious when the hotel manager came to his room.

Not realizing he was seriously wounded, Robert Harron joked with the manager that he was in a "devil of a fix" having shot himself.

Robert Harron initially refused to let the manager call an ambulance, only wanting to be examined by a local physician in his room.

When medics arrived and attempted to transport Robert Harron using a stretcher, he insisted on being taken down in a chair.

Robert Harron was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center where he remained conscious but in critical condition.

Shortly after the shooting, rumors arose that the shooting was not accidental and Robert Harron had attempted suicide.

Robert Harron admitted the gun belonged to him, but claimed that he had brought it with him because he did not want the gun at the family home in Los Angeles.

Robert Harron told Heerman that his younger brother Johnnie had become "hard to handle" and he feared leaving the gun at the family home where Johnnie could find it.

Robert Harron told Heerman that he wrapped the gun up in a pair of his trousers and placed them in his suitcase.

Robert Harron told a priest who visited him in the hospital that the shooting was an accident.

One such rumor was that Robert Harron attempted suicide over the breakup of his relationship with Dorothy Gish.

Victor Heerman rejected this theory because Robert Harron, a teetotaler and virgin, was a devout Catholic who would have deemed suicide a mortal sin.

Actresses Miriam Cooper and Lillian Gish, both of whom were friends with Robert Harron, agreed with Heerman's reasoning.

Robert Harron is interred at Calvary Cemetery in Woodside, Queens, New York City.