western, The Devil's Partner, which not released until 1926, the year he was the human leading actor in a May vehicle for the dog star Peter the Great, a German Shepherd who, after appearing in one more film, was fatally shot in June. In 1926, he was Helen Holmes' leading man in Perils of the Rail, while playing an unbilled cameo as a Union Army officer in another railroad-centered film, Buster Keaton's The General. In 1927, he was second-billed to Cornelius Keefe in Hook and Ladder No. 9, third-billed in the Larry Semon vehicle Spuds, the John Bowers–Anne Cornwall starrer The Heart of the Yukon and the Buffalo Bill, Jr. western series entry Pals in Peril, had lower-billed roles in four other films and played an unbilled bit in Cecil B. DeMille's The King of Kings. Character actor during sound era In 1928, as Hearn reached his fortieth birthday, his changing fortunes were reflected through the six productions in which he appeared. He was still briefly cast as a leading man, but only to German Shepherds. "The New Pathé Dog Star, Cyclone" in the Spencer Gordon Bennet-directed Pathé Exchange serial The Yellow Cameo, was first, with the film's poster highlighting only the names of leading lady Allene Ray and Cyclone, while FBO's feature film "Dog Justice", another vehicle for a German Shepherd (this dog's name was Ranger), came second. The other four titles, however, placed him between fifth and eighth in their cast lists. In the last of his 1928 titles, also his first sound film, December-released Ned McCobb's Daughter, he was billed below Irene Rich, Theodore Roberts, Robert Armstrong and George Barraud, and directly above future star Carol (Carole) Lombard. As sound films began to make greater inroads at the start of 1929, Hearn's five films that year indicated a further downward spiral. He was second-billed (to Sam Nelson, who co-starred with Ranger in five other 1927–29 films) in another silent Ranger vehicle, The One Man Dog and third-billed (above Thelma Todd) in the William Collier, Jr.–Jacqueline Logan pairing for Columbia Pictures' part-talkie The Bachelor Girl. In the remaining three titles, however, his billing was much lower. Frank Capra's first sound film, The Donovan Affair listed him eleventh and another talkie mystery, Universal's The Drake Case, a posthumous release for its star, Gladys Brockwell, listed him eighth. Both of these dialogue-laden productions, exist only in silent versions, following the