Thomas Meighan

For the musician, see Tom Meighan. For the politician, see Thomas Meighen.

Thomas Meighan
Meighan, sometime before 1923
Shepherd of The Lambs
In office 1924–1926
Preceded by	Albert Oldfield Brown
Succeeded by	Thomas Alfred Wise
Personal details
Born	(1879-04-09)April 9, 1879 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	July 8, 1936(1936-07-08) (aged 57) Great Neck, New York, U.S.
Spouse	Frances Ring (1909–1936)
Occupation	Actor

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 with co-star Pauline Starke in 1922, as they appeared in publicity for the film If You Believe It, It's So

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 at home with his wife, Frances Ring

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 9:10 pm 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
	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

External links

• Thomas Meighan at IMDb
• Thomas Meighan at Find a Grave
• The Meighan Theatre
• Photographs and literature
• Photo of Meighan with his wife Frances Ring, 1920
• Thomas Meighan on Broadway Internet Database