Henry B. Harris

Who was Henry B. Harris?

Henry B. Harris; Henry Birkhardt Harris, born in St. Louis, was a Broadway producer and theatre owner who died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic. His wife was actress Rene Harris married 1898, who was injured in a fall on the Grand Staircase of the Titanic, but survived the sinking and lived until 1969.

Harris was the son of William Harris Sr., a founder of the Theatrical Syndicate in the 1890s. He had a brother William Harris Jr. Harris worked for his father in the theatrical business in Boston for a number of years before starting out on his own producing plays in 1901. He managed such stars as Amelia Bingham and Robert Edeson. He leased and managed the Hudson Theatre in New York and in 1911 built the Folies Bergere Theatre.

Harris perished along with over 1500 other souls in the Titanic's sinking, April 15 1912. His body was lost at sea. If it was recovered and brought to Halifax by one of the cable ships sent out to look for bodies, it was never identified as such.