Harry Carey Jr.'s wife posted the circumstances of Harry Sr.'s
demise on the Internet: "Though reported as such in books, Harry Sr.
was never bitten by a black widow spider. He died from a combination of
lung cancer and long ongoing emphysema from cigarettes, and pneumonia
as a young man. At the Woodlawn Cemetery [Bronx, New York] are Dobe's
grandfather [who had the building built], his grandmother, a few other
relatives, the stable boy, and Old
Joe Harris. Joe Harris
was an actor who was in the early plays that Harry did. He and Harry
were working on a movie in the late twenties, and Joe said he wanted to
get some exercise. Harry had just gotten the Saugus ranch so he told
Joe to come up and help pull out tree stumps. Joe came and, like the
'man who came to dinner', stayed for 35 years. He died in our home in
Brentwood in the fifties. He sits on the windowsill in an urn next to
Harry.".
