Harryville's Hollywood connection honoured with new plaque

A new plaque has been unveiled in Harryville to celebrate the remarkable story of local actor

Robert Baxter McKenzie and his family’s contribution to early Hollywood cinema.

The commemorative plaque, installed on Queen Street close to where McKenzie grew up,

forms part of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council’s America 250 celebrations highlighting

local connections to the United States. It was unveiled by James Perry DL for County Antrim,

who paid tribute to the Harryville-born actor and his family’s achievements in the film

industry.

Ballymena’s most famous movie star is undoubtedly Liam Neeson, but in the era of the silent

movies Harryville born Bob McKenzie made a similar name for himself. Adding a touch of

modern star power to the occasion, Ballymena actor Liam Neeson sent a message

acknowledging the achievements of one of the town’s earliest Hollywood success stories.

Born in 1881, Bob emigrated as a young boy to the United States with his family. He went on

to enjoy a successful career in both silent and sound films, appearing in more than 300

movies as an actor, as well as working in the industry as a writer, director and film producer.

McKenzie and his wife, actress Eva Hazelitt, were well-known figures in the movie industry

and their three daughters, Fay, Ida and Ella followed in their footsteps and became

actresses from a young age. By 1920, census records show the entire family working in the

motion picture industry in Los Angeles.

The family’s links to Harryville remained strong. During the Second World War, daughter Ella

returned to visit Harryville with her husband Billy Gilbert, a comedy actor on a par with Laurel

and Hardy. They were the talk of Ballymena when the briefly visited the town during their

time in Northern Ireland to entertain American troops based here.

Following the unveiling, guests attended a screening featuring Bob and Eva McKenzie,

alongside presentations exploring Ballymena’s cinema heritage and the McKenzie family’s

place in Hollywood history.

The plaque serves as a lasting reminder that long before the rise of modern film stars, a

young man from Harryville was helping to shape the golden age of Hollywood.