Justus D. Barnes
Justus D. Barnes will be forever remembered as the bandit who fired his gun at the audience in The Great Train Robbery (1903).
Justus D. Barnes (sometimes credited as George Barnes) will forever hold a place in screen history for his role in Edwin S. Porter’s The Great Train Robbery (1903), in which he played the bandit who fired his gun at the camera. Barnes was born on 2nd October 1862 in Little Falls, New York. He worked on the stage before entering movies in the early 1900s.
Following his role as one of the outlaw leaders in The Great Train Robbery, Barnes continued working for Edison Studios. In August 1908, he was hired to work full-time for Edison’s Kinetograph Company, although by 1910 he had signed with the Thanhouser Company in New York. There he appeared as a character actor in over 80 films. Notable roles included Samuel Adams in The Declaration of Independence (1911), Ham in The Early Life of David Copperfield (1911), and one of the Magi in The Star of Bethlehem (1912).
Thanhouser released Barnes in 1917, and after returning to Edison for a small part in Cy Whittaker’s Ward (1917), he retired from the screen. In his later years, Barnes lived in Weedsport, New York, where he worked as a milkman before opening a cigar store. He died on 6th February 1946.
Ray Hallor, Justus D. Barnes and Gladys Leslie in An Amateur Orphan (1917)
Justus D. Barnes filmography:
The Great Train Robbery (short) (1903), Young Lord Stanley (short), (1910), The Declaration of Independence (short) (1911), The Early Life of David Copperfield (short) (1911), On Probation (short) (1912), Nicholas Nickleby (short) (1912), The Baby Bride (short) (1912), When Mandy Came to Town (short) (1912), Cousins (short) (1912), Aurora Floyd (short) (1912), The Star of Bethlehem (short) (1912), The Dove in the Eagle’s Nest (short) (1913), When the Studio Burned (short) (1913), While Mrs. McFadden Looked Out (short) (1913), When Darkness Came (short) (1913), The Missing Witness (short) (1913), His Last Bet (short) (1913), He Couldn’t Lose (short) (1913), A Beauty Parlor Graduate (short) (1913), Uncle’s Namesakes (short) (1913), Peggy’s Invitation (short) (1913), His Father’s Wife (short) (1913), An Amateur Animal Trainer (short) (1913), Joseph in the Land of Egypt (1914), Two Little Dromios (short) (1914), The Dancer (short) (1914), A Leak in the Foreign Office (short) (1914), A Can of Baked Beans (short) (1914), Their Best Friend (short) (1914), Cardinal Richelieu’s Ward (1914), A Debut in the Secret Service (short) (1914), The Infant Heart Snatcher (short) (1914), A Mohammedan Conspiracy (short) (1914), A Dog of Flanders (short) (1914), His Enemy (short) (1914), Rivalry (short) (1914), The Harlow Handicap (short) (1914), In Peril’s Path (short) (1914), Arty the Artist (short) (1914), Gold (short) (1914), The Mettle of a Man (short) (1914), The Harvest of Regrets (short) (1914), The Diamond of Disaster (short) (1914), Old Jackson’s Girl (short) (1914), Lucy’s Elopement (short) (1914), The Home of Silence (short) (1915), Helen Intervenes (short) (1915), Nell’s Strategy (short) (1915), The Smuggled Diamond (short) (1915), The Adventure of Florence (short) (1915), The Final Reckoning (short) (1915), Bianca Forgets (short) (1915), Love and Money (short) (1915), The Heart of the Princess Marsari (short) (1915), God’s Witness (1915), The House That Jack Moved (short) (1915), Bud Blossom (short) (1915), The Country Girl (short) (1915), His Two Patients (short) (1915), The Marvelous Marathoner (short) (1915), Snapshots (short) (1915), From the River’s Depths (short) (1915), Weary Walker’s Woes (short) (1915), Mr. Meeson’s Will (short) (1915), The Political Pull of John (short) (1915), Outwitted (short) (1916), Fear (short) (1916), Arabella’s Prince (short) (1916), Her Life and His (1917), Hinton’s Double (1917), The Candy Girl (1917), An Amateur Orphan(1917), It Happened to Adele (1917), and Cy Whittaker’s Ward (1917)