The Expressions of Thomas Meighan (1919) 🇬🇧

A Hero of Many Parts now to Play in Peg o’ My Heart.

Thomas Meighan has been fortunate enough to play “hero” to quite a number of charming screen artistes. These include Blanche Sweet, Pauline Frederick, Marie Doro, Wanda Hawley, and Norma Talmadge.

Thomas was intended by his parents to be a doctor, and although he soon demonstrated the fact that physic and professional consultations were not in his line, little did he dream that he would rise to such eminence as a picture player.

When he should have been studying “dry-as-dust” works on medicine, he was gaining prominences as a football player and an athlete. He became a brilliant half-back, and played in league matches for a champion American team.

Wide Experience of Speaking Stage.

Before he took up screen work, Thomas Meighan had a wide experience of the speaking stage, where he also gained much popularity. He was a member of an all-star cast which played in the American production of The Two Orphans. And for a brief while he appeared in London in The College Widow.

A season with Miss Grace George rapidly established his position as one of the leading juvenile actors of the country.

After his return from his visit to London, he toured for three years in a production appropriately called The Return of Peter Griffen. Then he journeyed across the water again and was seen in London in Broadway Jones, and other stage plays.

Mistaken for An Englishman.

His last appearance on the legitimate stage before going over to the screen was as the lawyer for the defence in On Trial.

Mr. Meighan has often been mistaken for an Englishman, owing to his likeness to the type, but he is in reality an American having been born in Pittsburg. It was in that town that he spent his school days, and his spare pocket-money at the school “tuck-shop.” As related above, he rapidly made his mark as a footballer, and his presence was much sought after by Captains of local teams. The newspapers were full of accounts of his prowess at the game.

An actor does more than his fair share of wandering about the globe during his career, and Thomas Meighan is no exception.

Travelled Thousands of Miles.

The number of thousands of miles which he estimates that he has covered makes one’s head dizzy to think of.

His fame as a screen artiste has, however, altered things, and he has now settled down in Los Angeles in a comfortable bungalow. “That is one of the beauties of film acting,” he says. “You do know where you are likely to be the following week or so, which is not always the case with the speaking stage. Although I am very fond of traveling, one likes to settle in the same spot for a while.” Thomas looks every inch a hero in private life, as he also does when he is on the screen. He is over six feet in height, has wavy, dark hair, and blue eyes. His weight is 13 st. 8 lbs.

First Rate Athlete.

He is still a first-rate athlete, and takes part in all sports when the opportunity arises. While he naturally had still a great liking for football, working at the studio does not allow him to indulge in his out-door hobbies to any great extent, but ho makes a habit of going for a spin of a couple of miles or so each day, as regularly as clock-work.

This is his means of keeping fit, and preparing for any “stunt” which he may be called upon to perform at a moment’s notice.

The latest production in which Thomas Meighan is featured is Peg o’ My Heart, the comedy by Hartley Manners [J. Hartley Manners]. Wanda Hawley also appears in this production. A series of films, with Norma Talmadge are also numbered amongst his most recent successes.

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Photo captions:

• Deep in thought.
• That worried look.
• The Love light in his eyes.
• Grimly in earnest.
• Something to ponder over.
• (Special to the “The Picture Show.”)

Collection: Picture Show Magazine, October 1919