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 earned $10,000 per week.
Early life 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.
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, in an effort to instill a sense of discipline and a strong work ethic. After his experience with manual labor, he attended Mount St. Mary's College to study pharmacology. After three years of study, Meighan decided he wished to pursue acting. This decision ultimately resulted in a career in both theatre and the emerging film industry.
Early theatre career 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 per week. This early experience in theatre provided him with the skills and discipline that would benefit his later work.
Meighan first appeared on Broadway in 1900, and four years later appeared in The Two Orphans. His breakthrough role came in 1908 when he appeared with William Collier Sr. in The Dictator; this play was followed by a leading role in The College Widow, which had a successful run on Broadway in the 1907–1908 season. 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 entered motion pictures, at that time still in their infancy. His first film, shot in London, was titled Dandy Donovan, the Gentleman Cracksman. This led to a contract with Famous Players–Lasky. His first U.S. film, in 1915, was The Fighting Hope. During the next two years, Meighan's career took 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
Meighan achieved stardom in 1919. One of his better-known films of the period was that year's The Miracle Man, which featured Lon Chaney Sr.; it is now believed to be lost except for brief clips. This was followed with Cecil B. DeMille's Male and Female, which starred him with Gloria Swanson and Lila Lee. Most of that film's cast returned for the 1920 film Why Change Your Wife?, which 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, during which he starred in several pictures. In 1924, he played in The Alaskan with Estelle Taylor and Anna May Wong. In 1927, Meighan starred in The City Gone Wild with Louise Brooks.
His final silents, both produced by Howard Hughes in 1928, were The Mating Call, which was critical of the Ku Klux Klan, and The Racket, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. Both were thought lost until rediscovered in private collections in 2006; they were restored by University of Nevada, Las Vegas and shown on Turner Classic Movies.
Sound movies and career's end Meighan's first sound feature film was The Argyle Case (1929). At this time, he was nearing 50; fearing his popularity might wane, he decided to go into real estate. It wasn't until 1931 that he returned to the screen with Young Sinners. He made four additional sound movies until illness sidelined him from acting. His last film was Peck's Bad Boy in 1934.
Personal life Meighan commanded a salary of $5,000 per week for much of his career. At one point, it reached $10,000 per week.
Marriage
Meighan met Frances Ring (July 4, 1882 – January 15, 1951) when she was a stage actress on Broadway and he was appearing there. She was a younger sister of popular singer Blanche Ring and of vaudeville actress Julie 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 marriage was considered happy and strong; one writer remarked "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. He was the sole witness to Jack Pickford and Olive Thomas's secretive wedding in New Jersey on October 25, 1916.
In March 1923, Douglas Gerrard, in need of help bailing his friend Rudolph Valentino out of jail for bigamy, called 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 freed.
Florida In the mid-1920s, Meighan became interested in 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 was to 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 was not present but sent a congratulatory telegram.
In 1930, sound was added to the theatre. Meighan 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. The following year, he underwent surgery at Doctors Hospital in Manhattan. He succumbed to cancer at 9:10pm on July 8, 1936, 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 donor 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.
Selected filmography Year Title Role Notes 1914 Danny Donovan, the Gentleman Cracksman Dandy Donovan, the Gentleman Cracksman Short 1915 Kindling 'Honest' Heine Schultz The Fighting Hope Burton Temple Out of the Darkness Harvey Brooks Blackbirds Jack Doggins / Hon. Nevil Trask The Secret Sin Jack Herron Armstrong's Wife David Armstrong The Immigrant David Harding Temptation 1916 Pudd'nhead Wilson Chambers The Trail of the Lonesome Pine Jack Hale The Sowers Prince Paul Alexis The Clown Dick Ordway The Dupe Jimmy Regan Common Ground Judge David Evans The Storm Robert Fielding 1917 The Heir to the Hoorah Joe Lacy Directed by William C. deMille (print and on-line), quoting deMille in (Rouben Mamoulian Collection (Library of Congress) First edition ) (Also catalogued at ; and (eBook)); and see The Slave Market John Barton Sapho Jean Gaussin Sleeping Fires David Gray The Silent Partner Edward Royle Her Better Self Dr. Robert Keith The Mysterious Miss Terry Gordon True Arms and the Girl Wilfred Ferrers 1918 The Land of Promise Frank Taylor Madame Jealousy Valour Eve's Daughter John Norton M'Liss Charles Gray Missing Sir William Farrel Heart of the Wilds Sergeant Tom Gellatly In Pursuit of Polly Colby Mason Out of a Clear Sky Robert Lawrence The Forbidden City John Worden 1919 The Heart of Wetona John Hardin The Probation Wife Harrison Wade The Miracle Man Tom Burke The Thunderbolt Bruce Corbin Male and Female William Crichton - The Butler Peg o' My Heart Sir Gerald Adair 1920 Why Change Your Wife? Robert Gordon The Prince Chap William Peyton Civilian Clothes Capt. Sam McGinnis Conrad in Quest of His Youth Conrad Warrener 1921 Frontier of the Stars Buck Leslie The Easy Road Leonard Fayne The City of Silent Men Jim Montgomery White and Unmarried Billy Kane The Conquest of Canaan Joe Louden Cappy Ricks Matt Peasley A Prince There Was Charles Edward Martin 1922 The Bachelor Daddy Richard Chester Our Leading Citizen Daniel Bentley, lawyer If You Believe It, It's So Chick Harris Manslaughter Daniel J. O'Bannon The Man Who Saw Tomorrow Burke Hammond Back Home and Broke Tom Redding 1923 The Ne'er-Do-Well Kirk Anthony Homeward Bound Jim Bedford Hollywood Thomas Meighan Woman-Proof Tom Rockwood 1924 Pied Piper Malone Jack Malone Print held Gosfilmofond The Confidence Man Dan Corvan The Alaskan Alan Holt Tongues of Flame Henry Harrington 1925 Coming Through Tom Blackford Old Home Week Tom Clark The Man Who Found Himself Tom Macauley Irish Luck Tom Donahue / Lord Fitzhugh 1926 The New Klondike Tom Kelly Fascinating Youth Thomas Meighan Tin Gods Roger Drake The Canadian Frank Taylor 1927 Blind Alleys Captain Dan Kirby We're All Gamblers Lucky Sam McCarver The City Gone Wild John Phelan 1928 The Racket Captain James McQuigg The Mating Call Leslie Hatten 1929 The Argyle Case Alexander Kayton 1931 Young Sinners Tom McGuire Skyline Gordon A. McClellan 1932 Cheaters at Play Michael Lanyard Madison Square Garden Bill Carley 1934 Peck's Bad Boy Henry Peck
References
External links
The Meighan Theatre Photographs and literature Photo of Meighan with his wife Frances Ring, 1920 Thomas Meighan on Broadway Internet Database