Harry Gribbon

Harry Gribbon was an American film actor and comedian who also directed, and he began in vaudeville before becoming a leading man in the Ziegfeld Follies in 1913. Born in New York City, he performed in about 200 stage productions, including Buster Brown, The Man Who Owned Broadway and The Red Widow, before Mack Sennett signed him to make films. He worked for the L-KO Kompany and entered silent cinema in 1915, first at Lubin as Rubber-faced Harry, then at Keystone as Silk Hat Harry, playing a top-hatted, heavily mustachioed comic villain. Between 1915 and 1938 he made more than 140 films, and he was known for The Cameraman (1928) and Show People (1928), with Art Trouble (1934) also among his credits. Many of his silent films are lost. During the sound era he acted in RKO and Pathe short comedies.