Volume III: Biographies

NEILL, Richard *

Actor (1917)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Richard Neill appeared in a Thanhouser film released in 1917.

Biographical Notes: Richard Renshaw Neill was born on November 12, 1876 in Philadelphia, a direct descendant of John Neill, who fought in the Revolutionary War. He was educated at the Delancy School in Philadelphia. Beginning at the age of 17, he followed a career on the stage with Holland's stock company. However, he considered his first significant appearance to have been in the role of captain of the guard in The King's Musketeer, with E.H. Sothern, under the management of Edgar Selwyn at Knickerbocker and Daly's theatres in New York City. The actor was later seen in Janice Meredith, Augustus Thomas' The Other Girl, and with Louise Dresser in The Girls of Gottenberg. Neill entered the motion picture field, his first work being in The Voice From the Dead, for the Edison Company in 1908, after which he remained for Edison for about six years.

A biographical sketch published in The Kinetogram, Edison's film magazine, April 15, 1913, told of his career: "Richard Renshaw Neill was born in Philadelphia and is a member of its oldest aristocracy. One of his great great uncles, James Markoe, was a charter member and President of the Philadelphia Club. Another was the first captain of the famous First City Troop. His great great grandfather, Turner Camac, of Greenmount Lodge, County Wicklow, came to this country in 1804. Mr. Carmac's niece married Richard, son of William Penn, and one of his sisters married the Earl of Powerscourt, whose place, the Vale of Avoca, is still one of the most beautiful showplaces in Ireland.

"Mr. Neill, the first of his family to enter the theatrical profession, became at the early age of seventeen, a member of George Holland's Stock company, at the Girard Avenue Theatre, Philadelphia, and enjoyed the advantage of being in the cast with such players as Mrs. John Drew, E.M. and Joseph Holland, Mary Shaw, Harry Davenport, Custon and Wilfred Clark, and many other stars. Mr. Neill's next engagement was with E.H. Sothern for two seasons, after which he originated the part of the Silent Soldier, in Janice Meredith with Mary Mannering - in which he scored a big hit. Of this part Alan Dale said: 'The Silent Soldier was the best actor in the cast. His pantomime was excellent and he showed a certain dramatic intuition that some of the others were too busy talking to show.' Mr. Neill also originated parts with Margaret Anglin and Virginia Harned and the part of the son with W.H. Thompson, in For Love's Sweet Sake - playing it until Mr. Thompson went abroad. Mr. Neill drifted later into musical comedy, playing Seraphin in Veronique - with Louise Gunning - Lord Battersby in Comin' thro' the Rye - Adolph in The Girls of Gottenberg with Ghertie Miller, Jas. Blakely, etc.

"Mr. Neill came to the 'movies' splendidly equipped for the work - as a boy he won the preliminaries at the Philadelphia Fencing and Sparring Club, of which he was a junior member. He studied pantomime with the famous ballet master, George W. Smith, and jig dancing with Murphy of Carncross's Minstrels. His early youth was spent partly in Gloucestershire, England, and partly at the old family homestead of 325 acres in the beautiful Chester Valley, Pennsylvania, where he became an adept swimmer and rider. Light on his feet and agile as a cat, absolutely devoid of fear, it is no wonder that the Edison Company have cast him for the lead in such pictures as the Spirit of the Gorge, where he was the first white man ever to take a canoe through the foaming rapids of Au Sable Chasm. After smashing two canoes and swimming to shore, the director refused to risk a third canoe.

"When Mr. Neill was in Bermuda with the Edison Co. last year, they were taking a picture on an old boat in about 17 feet of water. A sudden wind blew up and took with it the camera. Mr. Neill, 'made up' for his part, with wig, hat and spectacles, dove right over the side of the scow after the camera. As it had gone down 17 feet and weighed 45 lbs., Mr. Neill had no easy task to hold it with one hand and work up with the other. As to the company anxiously waiting his reappearance, every second seemed an hour, the ladies were just beginning to get hysterical when Mr. Neill hove in sight, camera in hand - hat, wig and spectacles, just as he went down. In spite of all the risks he has taken, Mr. Neill met with his first accident last fall, in Wyoming - where, with the assistance of the U.S. Cavalry and artillery from Fort D.A. Russell, the Edison Co. were doing The Charge of the Light Brigade. Mr. Neill personated Lieut. Nolan, the man who was killed while riding at breakneck speed in the futile hope of preventing the famous 'blunder' that sent the '600' to their death. Just as Mr. Neill was about to take his fall from the saddle, the explosion of a nearby bag of powder caused the horse to shy so violently that Mr. Neill came down on his shoulder and broke it. Being dead, pictorially, he had to lie there until the scene was over. When he got up he drew his arm out to its full length, by holding on to the horn of his saddle, thinking his arm was dislocated, and thinking he could pull it in to place. It was quite some time before the break was discovered and it was some weeks before Mr. Neill was able to play.

"Mr. Neill played the lead in some of the best pictures the Edison Co. ever sent out: An Unexpected Reward, A Wireless Romance, The Derelict Reporter, The Doomed Ship, The Quarrel on the Cliff, taken in Cuba, The Cowpuncher's Gloves, taken at Banff and the Capilano Canon, The Romance of the Leaves, The Spirit of the Gorge, also the lead in the now famous Curable Disease taken principally in the Printers' Home, Colorado Springs."

As the preceding account makes clear, Richard Neill was known for his daring stunts and his prowess at athletic endeavors, including riding, swimming, running, and riding. In 1914 Neill appeared in the Dolly of the Dailies serial episodes. In its May 8, 1915 issue, The Moving Picture World carried a notice, illustrated with his portrait, which stated that Neill was no longer with Edison, but had been recently engaged in the production of a nine-reel feature film for Henry W. Savage, Uncle Sam at Work, after which he was with Burr McIntosh, playing the role of Robert in Colonel Carter of Cartersville, directed by Howell Hansel.

An article in The Morning Telegraph, December 17, 1916, stated that Neill was "tall, handsome, and bemustached" and had been in many photoplays for William Fox, including the Neal of the Navy serial episodes. Among his later films were The Fighting Coward, Heritage of the Desert, and Wanderer of the Wasteland. His first color picture was Born to the West. A 1917 article noted that he had been in films with Edison, Biograph, Kalem, Fox, and Mirror and had played roles from juvenile to leading old man. Richard Neill appeared in the 1917 Thanhouser release of The Woman in White. Apparently, he was with the Thanhouser studio for just a short time.

A publicity release issued by the Goldwyn Pictures Corporation in the 1920s stated that Neill preferred heavy roles in comedy pictures, but he seldom was offered comedy work. He was married to Grace Williams, an actress, and had no children. His favorite pastime was tennis, and among authors he preferred Rudyard Kipling. His home was at 1450 Seward, Hollywood, California. His later pictures included The Great Gamble (1919 Pathé serial), The Whirlwind (1920 Allgood Pictures states rights release serial), and other films through at least the late 1920s. Richard Neill died on April 8, 1970 in the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital, Woodland Hills, California. By that time he had been in motion pictures for 70 years, according to his obituary in Variety. Services were held at the Old North Church, Forest Lawn, in the Hollywood Hills. Surviving was his wife, Grace. Certain of his effects, including a photograph album of stills from his Edison films, are in the collection of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Note: His surname was occasionally spelled as "Neil" in publicity.

Thanhouser Filmography:

1917: The Woman in White (7-1-1917)

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