{{Short description|Actor in Australia (1832–1868)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Robert James Heir''' (10 February 1832 – 27 February 1868) was an actor in Australia, best known as the first husband of the great actress Fanny Cathcart.
== History == Heir arrived in Melbourne by the George Marshall, and made his first appearance on 11 April 1855 at the Queen's Theatre, Melbourne as "Icilius" in Knowles' drama ''Virginius'' with G. V. Brooke and Fanny Cathcart.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article154891207 |title=Domestic Intelligence |newspaper=The Age |volume=I |issue=150 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=12 April 1855 |accessdate=22 July 2021 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
Heir and Cathcart were playing Morris Barnett's comedy, ''The Serious Family'', for George Coppin at his newly-opened Olympic Theatre, with G. V. Brooke and R. Younge, when they married and after the last performance defected to the rival company of John Black at the Theatre Royal to play Thomas Morton's comedy ''A Roland for an Oliver'',<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4815907 |title=Theatrical and Musical |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=2571 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=21 August 1855 |accessdate=22 July 2021 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> which they had performed for Coppin a few months earlier.<ref name=advertising>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article154897492 |title=Advertising |newspaper=The Age |volume=I |issue=166 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=1 May 1855 |accessdate=22 July 2021 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
===Death=== Mr and Mrs Heir were booked to appear at the Invercargill Theatre, New Zealand, in 1868, but he died on the passage across,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article176996816 |title=Theatrical |newspaper=The Age |issue=4184 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=30 March 1868 |accessdate=22 July 2021 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and was buried at The Bluff, one of the most southerly towns in that country. A later pilgrim to the cemetery was surprised at the condition of his grave, unmarked and unkempt.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article87899000 |title=South Australia |newspaper=Bendigo Advertiser |volume=XV |issue=4165 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=5 October 1868 |accessdate=22 July 2021 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> It was in a similar condition thirty years later, when the Mayor of Invercargill wrote to Nellie Stewart, who brought the matter to the attention of the Australasian Dramatic and Musical Association, and a headstone was procured.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242205555 |title=Robert Heir's Grave. |newspaper=The Herald (Melbourne) |issue=9352 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=3 October 1905 |accessdate=22 July 2021 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
===Personal=== Heir married Mary Fanny Cathcart (3 August 1833 – 3 January 1880)<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article104859640 |title=Death of Mrs Robert Heir |newspaper=The Burrowa News |issue=289 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=9 January 1880 |accessdate=22 July 2021 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> around early 1855.<ref name=advertising/> A daughter was born on 23 March 1856,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4833886 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=2997 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=25 March 1856 |accessdate=22 July 2021 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> the first of five children, who all died young.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5969443 |title=Death of Mrs George Darrell |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=10,467 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=5 January 1880 |accessdate=22 July 2021 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> She married George Darrell (1851–1921) on 20 January 1870.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244904593 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Herald (Melbourne) |issue=7523 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=7 February 1870 |accessdate=22 July 2021 |page=2 |via=Trove}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heir, Robert}} Category:1832 births Category:1868 deaths Category:19th-century Australian male actors Category:People from the Colony of Victoria