1869-1949
Silent actor Barney Gilmore was born Bernard Frances Gilmore on this date in Philadelphia (note: some sources cite his birth year as being 1965). He was first and foremost an actor of the theater. His active years in the films spanned 1912 through 1940, with the bulk of his work coming in the 1910's and 1920's. His first credited role came in the Solax produced short comedy Dublin Dan (1912). In the next film in which he appeared, he had a hand in writing, along with Alice Guy and her husband Herbert (and 2 other people): Kelly From The Emerald Isle was also a comedy short and was released in June of 1913. This would (as far as anyone knows as of this writing) mark his only foray into scenario writing. His film acting, even in his most active years, was sparse--he kept to the stage for the most part. By 1915, he was with Sterling Camera and Film Company; and by 1917 he made a feature length film for Fine Arts Film Company (The Man Who Made Good). He took 2 1/2 years off from film acting between 1918 and 1921, returning with an appearance in the Romaine Fielding film The Rich Slave. He made just one other appearance in a film that year, in yet another Fielding film, before taking another hiatus from film acting that lasted 5 years. He returned in 1926 in the independent short western feature The Galloping Cowboy. He appeared in 5 more films in the 1920's, with Smiling Irish Eyes being an all sound film produced by First National with sound by Vitaphone. He made just two more film appearance in his lifetime--one, a short from 1931 and the last in a 1940 uncredited role in the John Ford classic The Grapes Of Wrath. Gilmore lived a further 9 years, dying in Los Angeles at the age of 80 (or 84 depending on his actual birth year) on the 19th of April. He is interred in Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood. He was the father of actress Lillian Gilmore, who was herself a silent film player.
