Sneha Girap (Editor)

Thomas Meighan

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Role
  
Actor

Succeeded by
  
Thomas Alfred Wise

Died
  
July 8, 1936, Great Neck

Occupation
  
Actor

Siblings
  
James E. Meighan

Name
  
Thomas Meighan


Thomas Meighan FileThomas Meighan Feb 1920 Motion Picture Magazinejpg

Born
  
April 9, 1879Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (
1879-04-09
)

Spouse
  
Frances Ring (m. 1909–1936)

Parents
  
John Meighan, Mary Meighan

Movies
  
Male and Female, Why Change Your Wife?, The Racket, Manslaughter, The Forbidden City

Similar People
  
Marshall Neilan, Cecil B DeMille, James Cruze, William C deMille, Alfred E Green

Preceded by
  
Albert Oldfield Brown

the mating call 1928 director james cruze starring thomas meighan


Thomas Meighan (April 9, 1879 – July 8, 1936) was an American actor of silent films and early talkies. He played several leading man roles opposite popular actresses of the day including Mary Pickford and Gloria Swanson. At one point he commanded $10,000 a week.

Contents

Thomas Meighan httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaenthumb2

Surviving Footage of The Miracle Man (1919)


Early life

Thomas Meighan Thomas Meighan Silent Movie Star goldensilentscom

Meighan was born to John and Mary Meighan in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father was the president of Pittsburgh Facing Mills and his family was well off.

Thomas Meighan Cine MudoACTORES

Meighan's parents encouraged him to go to college but he refused. At the age of 15 his father sent him to work shoveling coal which quickly changed his mind. He attended St. Mary's College studying pharmacology. After 3 years of study Meighan decided he wished to pursue acting.

Early theatre career

Thomas Meighan THOMAS MEIGHAN FREE Wallpapers amp Background images

After dropping out of college in 1896 Meighan became a juvenile player in the Pittsburgh Stock Company headed by Henrietta Crosman. He was paid $35 a week.

Meighan soon found success. He first appeared on Broadway in 1900. In 1904 Meighan appeared in "The Two Orphans". His breakthrough role came in 1908 when he appeared with William Collier Sr. in "The Dictator". That was followed by a leading role in "The College Widow", which had a successful run on Broadway for the 1907–1908 season. It was during this run he met his wife Frances Ring.

Despite his film career Meighan remained devoted to the theatre during his life.

Film career

In 1914 he abandoned theatre for the new movie industry; which was still in its infancy at the time. His first film was shot in London, titled "Dandy Donovan, the Gentleman Cracksman". This film led to a contract with Famous Players-Lasky. His first US film was in 1915, "The Fighting Hope". During the next 2 years Meighan's career would take off. In 1918 he made a propaganda film for World War I titled, "Norma Talmadge and Thomas Meighan in a Liberty Loan Appeal". He then played opposite Mary Pickford in M'Liss.

Stardom

In 1919 Meighan hit stardom. One of his best known films at the time was the 1919 The Miracle Man which featured Lon Chaney Sr.. This film is now believed to be lost except for brief clips. This was followed with Cecil B. DeMille's Male and Female which starred him opposite Gloria Swanson and Lila Lee. Most of the cast returned for the 1920 film, Why Change Your Wife? which also co-starred Bebe Daniels. In April 1925, Meighan and Swanson produced a short film, directed by Allan Dwan for the annual "Spring Gambol" for The Lambs. This film, sometimes known as Gloria Swanson Dialogue made in Lee DeForest's sound-on-film Phonofilm process, was made as a joke for the live event, showing Swanson trying to crash the all-male club.

His popularity continued through the Roaring Twenties with him starring in several pictures. In 1924 he played in The Alaskan opposite Estelle Taylor and Anna May Wong. In 1927, Meighan starred in The City Gone Wild opposite Louise Brooks.

His final silents, both produced by Howard Hughes in 1928, were The Mating Call, which was critical of the KKK, and The Racket, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. Both were thought lost until rediscovered in private collections in 2006 and restored by University of Nevada, Las Vegas and shown on Turner Classic Movies.

Talkies

His first talkie feature film was The Argyle Case (1928). Meighan was nearing 50 and feared his popularity might wane, and decided to go into real estate. It took until 1931 for him to return to the screen with Young Sinners. He would go on to make only four additional talkies until his illness sidelined him from acting. His last film was Peck's Bad Boy in 1934.

Personal life

Meighan commanded a salary of $5,000 a week for much of his career. At one point it reached $10,000 a week.

Marriage

Meighan met Frances Ring (July 4, 1882 – January 15, 1951). Ring was an attractive stage actress, on Broadway when Meighan was also appearing. She was a sister of popular singer Blanche Ring. Actor and director A. Edward Sutherland was a nephew of both Blanche Ring and Meighan. Sutherland's mother, Julie, was a sister of Blanche and Frances Ring.

Meighan and Ring became inseparable and soon married. They remained married until his death in 1936. Their happy marriage was considered a strong one prompting one writer to remark, "Thomas Meighan and Rin Tin Tin were the only Hollywood stars who had never seen a divorce court". The couple had no children.

Hollywood scandals

Meighan was involved in some of the more scandalous moments of silent film history; albeit as a helping hand. On October 25, 1916 in New Jersey he was the sole witness to Jack Pickford and Olive Thomas's secretive wedding.

In March 1923, Douglas Gerrad, in need of help bailing his friend Rudolph Valentino out of jail for bigamy, called up a fellow Irishman named Dan O'Brien who happened to be with Meighan at the time. Meighan barely knew Valentino but put up a large chunk of the bail money, and with the help of June Mathis and George Melford, Valentino was eventually freed.

Florida

In the mid-1920s, Meighan became obsessed with Florida after talks with his realtor brother James E. Meighan. He bought property in Ocala, Florida in 1925. In 1927, he built a home in New Port Richey, Florida where he would spend his winters. He intended to shoot his film We're All Gamblers there, however, filming was moved to Miami.

The Meighans hoped to draw other celebrities to the area. On July 1, 1926, The Meighan Theatre opened with a screening of Meighan's movie The New Klondike. Meighan himself was not present but sent a congratulatory telegram.

In 1930 sound was added to the theatre. Meighan himself appeared this time, pushing the button to start the sound. The theatre closed in 1934, a victim of the Depression. It reopened in 1938 under the name The New Port Richey Theatre. The theatre is still open as a community playhouse under the name Richey Suncoast Theatre.

Death

In 1934, Meighan was diagnosed with cancer. In 1935, he underwent surgery at Doctors Hospital in Manhattan. He finally succumbed to cancer at 9:10pm on July 8, 1936, passing away at his home in Great Neck, New York. Many of his family were present.

Meighan was originally buried at Calvary Cemetery in Queens. After resting there for almost a year, his remains were moved to a family plot at Saint Mary Cemetery in Meighan's hometown of Pittsburgh.

Legacy

Meighan was a large donater to various Catholic charities and the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies. Many of his later films survive and have been released on DVD.

Filmography

Actor
1934
Peck's Bad Boy as
Henry Peck
1932
Madison Square Garden as
Bill Carley
1932
Cheaters at Play as
Michael Lanyard
1931
Skyline as
Gordon A. McClellan
1931
Young Sinners as
Tom McGuire
1929
The Argyle Case as
Alexander Kayton
1928
The Mating Call as
Leslie Hatten
1928
The Racket as
Captain James McQuigg
1927
The City Gone Wild as
John Phelan
1927
We're All Gamblers as
Lucky Sam McCarver
1927
Blind Alleys as
Captain Dan Kirby
1926
The Canadian as
Frank Taylor
1926
Tin Gods as
Roger Drake
1926
Fascinating Youth as
Thomas Meighan
1926
The New Klondike as
Tom Kelly
1925
Irish Luck as
Tom Donahue / Lord Fitzhugh
1925
The Man Who Found Himself as
Tom Macauley
1925
Old Home Week as
Tom Clark
1925
Coming Through as
Tom Blackford
1924
Tongues of Flame as
Henry Harrington
1924
The Alaskan as
Alan Holt
1924
The Confidence Man as
Dan Corvan
1924
Pied Piper Malone as
Jack Malone
1923
Woman-Proof as
Tom Rockwood
1923
Hollywood as
Thomas Meighan
1923
Homeward Bound as
Jim Bedford
1923
The Ne'er-Do-Well as
Kirk Anthony
1922
Gloria Swanson and Thomas Meighan (Short)
1922
Back Home and Broke as
Tom Redding
1922
The Man Who Saw Tomorrow as
Burke Hammond
1922
Manslaughter as
Daniel J. O'Bannon
1922
If You Believe It, It's So as
Chick Harris
1922
Our Leading Citizen as
Daniel Bentley - Lawyer
1922
The Bachelor Daddy as
Richard Chester
1921
A Prince There Was as
Charles Edward Martin
1921
Cappy Ricks as
Matt Peasley
1921
The Conquest of Canaan as
Joe Louden
1921
White and Unmarried as
Billy Kane
1921
The City of Silent Men as
Jim Montgomery
1921
The Easy Road as
Leonard Fayne
1921
Frontier of the Stars as
Buck Leslie
1920
Conrad in Quest of His Youth as
Conrad Warrener
1920
Civilian Clothes as
Capt. Sam McGinnis
1920
The Prince Chap as
William Peyton
1920
Why Change Your Wife? as
Robert Gordon
1919
Peg o' My Heart as
Sir Gerald Adair
1919
Male and Female as
William Crichton - The Butler
1919
The Thunderbolt as
Bruce Corbin
1919
The Miracle Man as
Tom Burke
1919
The Probation Wife as
Harrison Wade
1919
The Heart of Wetona as
John Hardin
1918
Norma Talmadge and Thomas Meighan in a Liberty Loan Appeal (Short) as
The Soldier
1918
The Forbidden City as
John Worden
1918
Out of a Clear Sky as
Robert Lawrence
1918
Heart of the Wilds as
Sergeant Tom Gellatly
1918
In Pursuit of Polly as
Colby Mason
1918
Missing as
Sir William Farrel
1918
M'Liss as
Charles Gray
1918
Eve's Daughter as
John Norton
1918
Madame Jealousy as
Valour
1917
The Land of Promise as
Frank Taylor
1917
Arms and the Girl as
Wilfred Ferrers
1917
The Mysterious Miss Terry as
Gordon True
1917
Her Better Self as
Dr. Robert Keith
1917
The Silent Partner as
Edward Royle
1917
Sleeping Fires as
David Gray
1917
Sapho as
Jean Gaussin
1917
The Slave Market as
John Barton
1916
The Heir to the Hoorah as
Joe Lacy
1916
The Storm as
Robert Fielding
1916
Common Ground as
Judge David Evans
1916
The Dupe as
Jimmy Regan
1916
The Clown as
Dick Ordway
1916
The Sowers as
Prince Paul Alexis
1916
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine as
Jack Hale
1916
Pudd'nhead Wilson as
Chambers
1915
The Immigrant as
David Harding
1915
Armstrong's Wife as
David Armstrong
1915
The Secret Sin as
Jack Herron
1915
Blackbirds as
Jack Doggins / Hon. Nevil Trask
1915
Out of the Darkness as
Harvey Brooks
1915
The Fighting Hope as
Burton Temple
1915
Kindling as
'Honest' Heine Schultz
1914
Danny Donovan, the Gentleman Cracksman (Short) as
Dandy Donovan, the Gentleman Cracksman
Self
1925
Gloria Swanson Dialogue (Short) as
Self
1922
Screen Snapshots, Series 3, No. 13 (Documentary short) as
Self
1922
A Trip to Paramountown (Documentary short) as
Self
1922
Screen Snapshots, Series 3, No. 1 (Documentary short) as
Self
Archive Footage
1934
Movie Memories #2 (Documentary short)
1931
The House That Shadows Built (Documentary)

References

Thomas Meighan Wikipedia


Similar Topics