Harry R. Roberts

Henry Richard Roberts (died 5 June 1924), generally known as Harry Roberts, was an Australian actor remembered as husband of actress Maggie Moore following her divorce from J. C. Williamson.

History Roberts was the son of actors Richard W. "Dick" Roberts (died c. 1877) and his wife, whose stage name was "Miss Polly Leake" (died 1881). "Dick" Roberts made his first Australian appearance at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne as Asa Trenshard in Our American Cousin on 3 June 1871. He was at one stage lessee and manager of the Haymarket Theatre, Melbourne. Laura Roberts, an actor with a long and successful career, was a sister. Roberts is reported as being born in Dunedin, as Henry Robertson, and his father a cousin of Sir Forbes Robertson.

Roberts gained stage experience from an early age, joking that not only had he played "Little Willie" in East Lynne but also "Little Eva" in Uncle Tom's Cabin. He later appeared in Shakespeare with such companies as George Miln and Essie Jenyns. He played for George Rignold at Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney, Bland Holt at Drury Lane, Robert Brough at the Criterion, Sydney and J. J. Kennedy at the Gaiety Theatre, Brisbane.

He left Australia for America in 1890 and did not return until 1908. In San Francisco he stage-managed The Silver King for Daniel Frawley's Comedy Company. He played Napoleon opposite Mary Van Buren in Madame Sans-Gêne Jack Jura, in Henry Hamilton's Moths Francis, in Zangwill's Children of the Ghetto Jaikes, to Wilton Lackaye's Wilfred Denver in The Silver King In 1910 he played Du Barry opposite Nellie Stewart at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne for George Musgrove. He next starred opposite Maggie Moore at the Palace Theatre in The Shadows of a Great City and The Gambler's Sweetheart.

He made a few appearances after the 1914–18 war, but chiefly for J. C. Williamson's — as the lawyer disguised as a waiter in Pollock's The Sign on the Door at the Criterion with Maud Hannaford and Frank Harvey, and as Pelham Franklin in Cosmo Hamilton's Scandal.

Last days Roberts suffered from a heart complaint resulting in a long period of intermittent invalidism. When the disease became acute he left his wife at her home "San Francisco" on Wilberforce Avenue, Rose Bay, for professional care at a private hospital in Woollahra, where he died a little before midday on 5 June 1924. Notice of his death was announced by Moore in a telegram to the Greenroom Club,

No reference has been found to Roberts having married previously, or having any children. He and Moore jointly owned a property at Cottesloe, Western Australia.