Harry Gribbon

{{Short description|American actor and comedian (1885–1961)}}

{{Use American English|date=May 2022}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2022}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Harry Gribbon

| image = Silent film actor Harry Gribbon (SAYRE 3917).jpg

| caption = Gribbon in 1923

| birth_name = Harry Peter Gribbon

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1885|06|09|mf=yes}}

| birth_place = New York City, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1961|07|28|1885|06|09|mf=yes}}

| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

| resting_place = Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California

| other_names = Rubber Face Harry
Silk Hat Harry

| occupation = Actor

| years_active = 1915–1938

| spouse = {{Marriage|May Emory|1918|1948|end=died}}

| relatives = Eddie Gribbon (brother)

}}

Harry Peter Gribbon (June 9, 1885 – July 28, 1961) was an American film actor, comedian and director known for The Cameraman (1928), Show People (1928) and Art Trouble (1934). He appeared in more than 140 films between 1915 and 1938. Many of his films from this era have been lost.{{cite news|date=July 31, 1961|title=Movie, Stage Actor Harry Gribbon Dies|page=19|work=Fort Worth Star-Telegram|agency=Associated Press|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/82674789/harry-gribbon/|access-date=August 2, 2021|via=Newspapers.com}}

Early life

Harry Peter Gribbon was born on June 9, 1885, in New York City. He was the brother of actor Eddie Gribbon.

Career

Gribbon started in vaudeville, performing on the Keith, Orpheum, and Pantages circuits, and in 1913 he became the leading man in the Ziegfeld Follies. He performed on stage in approximately 200 productions, including Buster Brown, The Man Who Owned Broadway, and The Red Widow, after which Mack Sennett signed him to make films.{{cite news |title=Triple Show Opens At Hoyt's Theatre |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/82664300/harry-gribbon/ |access-date=August 2, 2021 |work=The Long Beach Daily Telegram |date=July 10, 1922 |page=4}} Gribbon's Broadway credits included Meet a Body (1944), Mr. Big (1941), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), Delicate Story (1940), and Alley Cat (1934).{{cite web |title=Harry Gribbon |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/harry-gribbon-43131 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=August 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20161212065320/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/harry-gribbon-43131 |archive-date=December 12, 2016 |url-status=live }}

Gribbon worked for the L-KO Kompany. From 1915, Gribbon worked in silent cinema, first at Lubin under the sobriquet 'Rubber-faced Harry', which became 'Silk Hat Harry', when he joined Keystone later that year as top-hatted, amply moustachioed comic villain. During the sound era, acted in several RKO/Pathe short comediesar.{{Citation needed |date=May 2022}}

Personal life and death

Gribbon was married to actress May Emory. He died on July 28, 1961, in Los Angeles, California{{cite news |title=Harry Gribbon, 75, early film comic |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1961/08/01/archives/harry-gribbon-75-early-film-comic.html |access-date=August 2, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=August 1, 1961 |page=31|via = Newspapers.com}} at the Motion Picture Country Home.{{cite news |title=Song and dance man, Harry Gribbon, dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/82675077/obituary-for-harry-gribbon-aged-75/ |access-date=August 2, 2021 |work=Chattanooga Daily Times |date=July 31, 1961 |page=9}} He was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California next to his wife.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7-DgDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA383|title=Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.|page=383|first=Scott|last=Wilson|publisher=McFarland|date=August 22, 2016|isbn=9780786479924|via=Google Books}}

Selected filmography

References

{{reflist}}