Owen Moore
Owen Moore | |
---|---|
Publicity portrait of Moore, Bangs Studio, New York (1914) | |
Born |
Fordstown Crossroads, County Meath, Ireland | 12 December 1886
Died |
9 June 1939 52) Beverly Hills, California | (aged
Cause of death | Heart attack |
Resting place | Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles |
Spouse(s) |
Mary Pickford (1911–1920) Katherine Perry (1921–1939) |
Relatives |
Tom Moore (brother) Matt Moore (brother) |
Owen Moore (12 December 1886 – 9 June 1939) was an Irish actor in American films, appearing in more than 279 movies spanning from 1908 to 1937.[1]
Early life and career
Moore was born in Fordstown Crossroads, County Meath, Ireland, and along with his parents, John and Rose Anna Moore, brothers Tom, Matt, and Joe (1895–1926), and sister Mary (1890–1919), he emigrated to the United States as a steerage passenger on board the S.S. Anchoria and was inspected on Ellis Island in May 1896; settled around Toledo, Ohio; Moore and his siblings went on to successful careers in motion pictures in Hollywood, California.
While working at D. W. Griffith's Biograph Studios, Moore met a young Canadian actress named Gladys Smith whom he married on January 7, 1911. Their marriage was kept secret at first because of the strong opposition of her mother. However, Gladys Moore would soon overshadow her husband under her stage name, Mary Pickford. In 1912, he signed on with Victor Studios, co-starring in a number of their films with studio owner/actress Florence Lawrence.
Mary Pickford left Biograph Studios to join the Independent Moving Pictures (IMP) to replace their major star, Pickford’s Canadian friend, Florence Lawrence. Carl Laemmle, the owner of IMP who soon merged IMP into Universal Studios, agreed to sign her husband as part of the deal. This humiliation, together with his wife's meteoric rise to fame, drastically affected Moore and alcohol became a problem that led to violent behavior and his physically abusing Pickford. In 1916, Pickford met actor Douglas Fairbanks, Pickford filed for a divorce from Moore, when she agreed to his demand of $100,000 settlement.[2] Pickford and Fairbanks married just days later in 1920.
Appearing in a number of successful films for Lewis J. Selznick (father of producer David O. Selznick and agent Myron Selznick), in the late teens and early 1920s, Moore was a popular star at Selznick Pictures along with Olive Thomas, Elaine Hammerstein, Eugene O'Brien and Conway Tearle. He also appeared in films for his own production company as well as Goldwyn and Triangle.
Moore married a second time to another silent film actress, Katherine Perry, in 1921. With the advent of sound film, Moore's career declined and he became basically a supporting actor for newer stars. He competed, as the third lead, with Cary Grant and Noah Beery, Sr. for the attentions of Mae West in She Done Him Wrong, Paramount's most lucrative film of 1933. His last film appearance was as a movie director in the 1937 drama A Star Is Born starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March.
Death
After years of fighting alcoholism, Owen Moore died in Beverly Hills, California from a heart attack and was interred in the Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles, California.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Owen Moore has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6727 Hollywood Boulevard.[1]
Selected filmography
- The Guerrilla (1908)
- The Valet's Wife (1908)
- The Honor of Thieves (1909)
- The Sacrifice (1909)
- A Rural Elopement (1909)
- The Criminal Hypnotist (1909)
- The Welcome Burglar (1909)
- The Brahma Diamond (1909)
- Lady Helen's Escapade (1909)
- The Lonely Villa (1909)
- The Hessian Renegades (1909)
- The Red Man's View (1909)
- Resurrection (1909)
- In Little Italy (1909)
- To Save Her Soul (1909)
- The Little Darling (1909)
- The Prussian Spy (1909)
- His Wife's Mother (1909)
- A Fool's Revenge (1909)
- The Roue's Heart (1909)
- The Deception (1909)
- A Burglar's Mistake (1909)
- Two Memories (1909)
- Pippa Passes (1909)
- Nursing a Viper (1909)
- The Rocky Road (1910)
- What the Daisy Said (1910)
- In the Border States (1910)
- Love in Quarantine (1910)
- Their First Misunderstanding (1911)
- The Lesser Evil (1912)
- So Runs the Way (1913)
- The Battle of the Sexes (1914)
- Home, Sweet Home (1914)
- The Escape (1914)
- Cinderella (1914)
- Help Wanted (1915)
- Mabel Lost and Won (1915)
- Nearly a Lady (1915)
- The Little Teacher (1915)
- Little Meena's Romance (1916)
- A Coney Island Princess (1916)
- The Kiss (1916)
- A Girl Like That (1917)
- The Little Boy Scout (1917)
- Piccadilly Jim (1919)
- Sooner or Later (1920)
- The Desperate Hero (1920)
- The Poor Simp (1920)
- The Chicken in the Case (1921)
- A Divorce of Convenience (1921)
- Reported Missing (1922)
- Oh, Mabel Behave (1922)
- Love Is an Awful Thing (1922)
- Modern Matrimony (1923)
- Hollywood (1923)
- The Silent Partner (1923)
- Code of the West (1925)
- The Blackbird (1926)
- The Skyrocket (1926)
- Married ? (1926)
- Money Talks (1926)
- The Road to Mandalay (1926)
- Becky (1927)
- The Red Mill (1927)
- The Taxi Dancer (1927)
- The Actress (1928)
- High Voltage (1929)[3]
- Side Street (1929)
- Outside the Law (1930)
- What a Widow! (1930)
- Stout Hearts and Willing Hands (1931)
- Hush Money (1931)
- As You Desire Me (1932)
- She Done Him Wrong (1933)
- A Man of Sentiment (1933)
- A Star Is Born (1937)
References
- 1 2 "Hollywood Star Walk". The New York Times.
- ↑ Peggy Dymond Leavey, Mary Pickford: Canada's Silent Siren, America's Sweetheart. Dundurn Press (2011), p. 110
- ↑ "High Voltage". The New York Times.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Owen Moore. |
- Owen Moore at the Internet Movie Database
- Owen Moore at Find a Grave
- Menefee, David Sweet Memories (Menefee Publishing Inc., 2012) ISBN 1469966956