ROBERT WILLIAMS

Robert Williams was an actor from the 1910s to the 1930s. Born in 1894, Robert ran away from home at 16 and performed in plays on showboats and later theaters. After serving in WWI, he had his big break in 1922 when he played the lead on Broadway in the first version of Abie's Irish Rose (he was Abie), but tragedy struck after a few performances when he hit a 7 year old child in a car he was driving and the child died. His understudy took over the role, and after a few days no charges were filed and he returned to the part, but soon left the show, and did not make the movie version that followed. Over the 1920s he starred in many Broadway shows, but did not appear in any of the movie versions, preferring to stay in New York City. He had two unsuccessful marriages, to a famous singer, Marion Harris, and to a famous actress, Alice White.

At the end of the 1920s, it seemed his fortunes had drastically improved, He married yet another actress, Nina Penn, and in 1930 he starred in a play, Rebound, and this time he was signed to star in the movie version. He made three movies in 1931, and then was signed to star in Platinum Blonde, opposite Jean Harlow and Loretta Young, and every critic loved his performance and pronounced him a major new star. He likely would have a very promising career, but fate intervened, and he had an attack of appendicitis shortly after Platinum Blonde was finished, and he passed away four days after the movie opened at the age of 37, thus becoming one of the most famous might-have-beens in the history of Hollywood! Some of his other movies include: Devotion, Two Masters, and The Common Law