People active in the silent era and people who keep the silent era alive. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Photograph: Silent Era image collection.

Harry Gribbon

Born 9 June 1885 in New York, New York, USA, as Harry Peter Gribbon.
Died 28 July 1961 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Brother of actor Eddie Gribbon.

Married actress May Emory, 1918; until her death, 15 October 1948.

Harry Gribbon began his entertainment career (as would be expected) in vaudeville. The talented comedian eventually became a headliner on Broadway in Ziegfeld Follies. He soon was lured into motion pictures by Mack Sennett, starting with The Keystone Film Company in 1915. The tall Gribbon was soon stolen away (presumably by Henry Lehrman) to appear in comedies produced by the newly-formed Lehrman-Knockout company. It wasn’t long before Gribbon returned to Keystone to make better comedies while continuing some appearances for L-KO.

Over the years Harry Gribbon appeared in films for Keystone successor Triangle Film Corporation (1916-1917), Mack Sennett Comedies (1918-1932), Christie Film Company, Incorporated (1920), Fox Film Corporation (1921-1922), The Universal Film Manufacturing Company, Incorporated (1921), Chadwick Pictures Corporation (1924), First National Pictures, Incorporated (1928), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Corporation (1928-1929), Cosmopolitan Productions (1929), Warner Brothers Pictures, Incorporated (1929). Apparances in many short comedies were interspersed with supporting roles in feature films.

Harry continued his motion picture work into the sound era appearing in shorts and features, and apparently retiring in 1938 after appearing in more than 150 films.

References: Website-IMDb, Website-Wikipedia.