- Richard Barthelmes, Way Down East, 1919. Something of a jinxed movie… Harron, a regular in DW Griffth silents, shot himself in “mysterious circumstances” after the New York premiere – and Clarine Seymour, his intended co-star, died after intestinal surgery. Harron was apparently depressed at losing two successive Griffth leads to the younger Barthelmes, a regular in Dorothy Gish films. He told her sister, Lillian (and a priest) that it was not a suicide bid but an accident. Probably correct. After all, why would Harron (a star of The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance) fret over lost acting roles when the great DW had already begun training him to be a director? Barthelmes later wed his substituted co-star Mary Hay. That union also died. Seven years later.
Birth year: 1893Death year: 1920Other name: Casting Calls: 1