Volume III: Biographies

(MOORE, Owen) *

Actor (1910)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: It is possible but not probable that Owen Moore was once an actor with the Thanhouser Company.

Biographical Notes: Owen Moore was born on December 12, 1886 in County Meath, Ireland, and came to America at the age of 11. He was educated in Toledo, Ohio. From about 1906 to 1908 he was on the stage, traveling with a stock company. In 1908 he joined American Biograph, for whom he appeared in In Old Kentucky, The Lonely Villa, The Honor of Thieves, The Salvation Army Lass, and other subjects the first year. His two brothers, Tom and Matt, also were film actors. His sister Mary was in films briefly. On January 17, 1911, Owen Moore wed Mary Pickford, who was to become one of the most famous silent screen stars the world has ever known. They were divorced in March 1920, after which Moore married Kathryn Perry and Pickford became Mrs. Douglas Fairbanks.

According to an interview with Edwin Thanhouser, printed in the New Rochelle Standard-Star, June 13, 1938, in early 1910 he hired Owen Moore for $45 per week. At the same time, Moore informed Thanhouser that he thought he could persuade Mary Pickford (whom he would later wed) to come to the New Rochelle studio for $65 per week, but Edwin Thanhouser rejected the proposal as being too costly. A slightly different view is expressed in Richard Hamilton Ball's Shakespeare on Film, 1968, in which he states (p. 316) that he interviewed Edwin Thanhouser in 1947, and (p. 339) "Mr. Thanhouser told me he had obtained Flo LaBadie from Griffith; at the same time he turned down an opportunity to hire Owen Moore and his wife, Mary Pickford, because they wanted too much money."

Apparently, Moore's stay with Thanhouser, if indeed it did occur, was very brief. Moore was not featured in Thanhouser publicity, nor has the present writer located any unimpeachable contemporary references to his involvement with the New Rochelle firm. It is noted, however, that Moore was mentioned as a Thanhouser player by The Motion Picture Story Magazine in connection with its Popular Player Contest in the spring of 1912. The March 1912 issue stated that Owen Moore, of Thanhouser, had 569 votes. The April issue also listed him as a Thanhouser player, with a vote total of 672. Elsewhere in the inquiries column of the April issue it was stated: "Owen Moore seems to be unattached at this writing," a reference to his lack of a studio connection. The June issue gave a summation of the Popular Player contest, noted that Moore had 1,627 votes (the contest winner, Maurice Costello, of Vitagraph, had 430,816), and no studio affiliation was listed.

After his stint with American Biograph (and Thanhouser, if it occurred), Moore went to Reliance-Majestic, then to Fine Arts (Jordan is a Hard Road, Little Meena's Romance, Susan Rocks the Boat, etc.), and then to Famous Players (Under Cover, etc.). He remained in films through the late 1930s and served as an actor and producer. He had an important role in Mae West's She Done Him Wrong. Owen Moore died on June 9, 1939 in Beverly Hills, California, following an alcoholic binge and despondency over not finding employment. Moore's name is to be found today in numerous film history books, with most attention being devoted to his marriage to Mary Pickford. However, in his own right he was a prominent figure in the early years.

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