Thomas Meighan(1879-1936)
- Actor
This once popular silent screen star and older matinee idol for
Paramount Studios is all but forgotten today; however, Thomas "Tommy" Meighan
was one of the rulers of the Hollywood roost, between the years 1915
and 1928.
He was born in Pittsburgh, his father a president of a major
manufacturing company. Meighan switched interests from medicine to
acting during his mid-college years, joining Henrietta Crosman's
Pittsburgh stock company as his initiation to professional theater.
During these years he met and married stage actress Frances Ring, who
was the sister of actors Blanche Ring and Cyril Ring, enjoying a long and
happy wedded life. Having developed a highly respected name for himself
on Broadway right after the turn of the century, he decided, at the age
of 36, to give up the stage in order to pursue the still-floundering
medium of movie-making. It was a wise and prosperous move.
Meighan made his debut opposite Laura Hope Crews in The Fighting Hope (1915) and
became a Paramount favorite of producer/director Cecil B. DeMille's
with leading man roles in Kindling (1915), The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1916), Male and Female (1919), Why Change Your Wife? (1920), and
Manslaughter (1922). Meighan lit up the silver screen time and time
again paired up with Hollywood's top echelon of silent female stars including
Lila Lee, Blanche Sweet, Lois Wilson, Pauline Frederick, Billie Burke,
Norma Talmadge, Charlotte Walker, and Leatrice Joy.
Meighan would make his
film masterpiece with The Miracle Man (1919), also starring Lon Chaney,
in which he played Tom Burke, a notorious con-man, who tries one last
scheme, a faith-healing scam, before going clean. Unfortunately, this
8-reel silent classic is now lost but for a minor portion. Meighan
would earn between $5,000 to $10,000 a week during his prime years.
Although his first talking picture, The Argyle Case (1929), was a
success, Meighan's career went into a rapid decline come the advent of
sound, playing a few fatherly types in support at the very end. His
last film was Peck's Bad Boy (1934) starring young Jackie Cooper. At
about this time the actor discovered he had cancer and was forced to
withdraw from the screen. He died two years later on July 8, 1936. He
and wife Frances had no children.
Paramount Studios is all but forgotten today; however, Thomas "Tommy" Meighan
was one of the rulers of the Hollywood roost, between the years 1915
and 1928.
He was born in Pittsburgh, his father a president of a major
manufacturing company. Meighan switched interests from medicine to
acting during his mid-college years, joining Henrietta Crosman's
Pittsburgh stock company as his initiation to professional theater.
During these years he met and married stage actress Frances Ring, who
was the sister of actors Blanche Ring and Cyril Ring, enjoying a long and
happy wedded life. Having developed a highly respected name for himself
on Broadway right after the turn of the century, he decided, at the age
of 36, to give up the stage in order to pursue the still-floundering
medium of movie-making. It was a wise and prosperous move.
Meighan made his debut opposite Laura Hope Crews in The Fighting Hope (1915) and
became a Paramount favorite of producer/director Cecil B. DeMille's
with leading man roles in Kindling (1915), The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1916), Male and Female (1919), Why Change Your Wife? (1920), and
Manslaughter (1922). Meighan lit up the silver screen time and time
again paired up with Hollywood's top echelon of silent female stars including
Lila Lee, Blanche Sweet, Lois Wilson, Pauline Frederick, Billie Burke,
Norma Talmadge, Charlotte Walker, and Leatrice Joy.
Meighan would make his
film masterpiece with The Miracle Man (1919), also starring Lon Chaney,
in which he played Tom Burke, a notorious con-man, who tries one last
scheme, a faith-healing scam, before going clean. Unfortunately, this
8-reel silent classic is now lost but for a minor portion. Meighan
would earn between $5,000 to $10,000 a week during his prime years.
Although his first talking picture, The Argyle Case (1929), was a
success, Meighan's career went into a rapid decline come the advent of
sound, playing a few fatherly types in support at the very end. His
last film was Peck's Bad Boy (1934) starring young Jackie Cooper. At
about this time the actor discovered he had cancer and was forced to
withdraw from the screen. He died two years later on July 8, 1936. He
and wife Frances had no children.