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| Harry Swisher |
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born:
20 May 1886 Volinia Township, Michigan, United States of America |
died:
02 June 1925 Los Angeles, California United States of America (suicide by strychnine poison, age 39) |
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American actor. Harry's family were prominent farmers in Cass County, Michigan for many years. Harry had dreamed since childhood of becoming a railroad or streetcar conductor. He accomplished both. At age 18 he left the family farm for Dayton, OH and by 1908 he moved into that occupation and a little later got a job as conductor on a Pullman train, traveling all over the country. This is probably why I don't find him in the 1910 Census in Ohio or Michigan. In a 1923 interview, his brother Leslie, a policeman back in Michigan, said that Harry moved to Los Angeles because of "failing health" and at some time had worked as a manager at the William S. Hart Studio and an assistant director at L-Ko. By 1912 he was in Los Angeles working as a salesman for the Broadway Department Store and later as a clerk. In 1914 he was an actor; 1915 a clerk; 1916 an actor: 1918 a clerk and a Pacific Electric Railway conductor and in 1920 a motion picture actor! He found time to do stage acting with professional companies: Cinema Players, Co-Operative Theater Assn., and Gamut Club. He headed the make-up department for the Pola Negri film "The Spanish Dancer" in 1923. Ironically his last film role was 1924's "Racing for Life". On June 2, 1925 at a female friend's apartment he said: "I'm going to see Pearl; she will understand". He then swallowed strychnine and died on the way to the hospital. It was said that "Pearl" was his childhood sweetheart who had died a few weeks before he took his own life "in a fit of despondency". I never found the "Pearl" mentioned in one of the obituaries. His body was returned to Michigan for burial. In 1933, his 80 year-old parents were killed by a car as they crossed a highway. They were interred next to their son. |
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Real name: Harry La Verne Swisher |
Films listed on this page: complete Hal Roach filmography. |
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