Born Today January 8: Matt Moore

[Photo: Freulich/Universal Pictures]

1888-1960

Youngest of the Moore Brothers from County Meath, Ireland, Matt Moore was born today two years after his brother Owen and 5 years after the eldest Tom.  The brothers immigrated to the U.S. in 1896 on the cheapest passage on a passenger liner, passing thorough the Ellis island gateway in May of that year.  Matt's career was longer than that of his older brothers, but only just in the case of Tom.  His career during the silent era was very successful.  Moore made his debut in the film Tangled Relations in 1912; a production made by Victor Film (the company set up by Florence Lawrence and her husband Harry Solter with backing by Carl Laemmle) where his brother Owen was already working.  From here, he went to work at Laemmle's IMP, next showing up in the George Loane Tucker film Just A Fire Fighter  in 1913 (Moore also appeared in Tucker's 1913 Traffic in Souls the rather infamous [due to it's subject matter] 6-reel "white slavery" film).  His appearances in films at the company over the next year  were mostly opposite Jane Gail, who starred in a number "Jane" films for the studio.  In fact, it was on a "Jane" picture later in 1917 that he first sat behind the camera for the first time on Plain Jane, a film that he also appeared in.  Moore would go on to have 18 credits for directing between 1913 and 1917.  The vast majority of the films were shorts featuring himself and Gail--the last of these was The Brass Girl (1917).  In the meantime, he was on the set of The Pawn of Destiny in 1914, when the infamous set fire broke out that essentially ended her career. He was the actor that the studio claimed that the diminutive actress was supposed to have saved single-handedly.  Of course, it was just a press fabrication and one that must of have mortified Moore.  Two years later  he would go on to his most important role of the teens in the underwater extravaganza 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, which was directed by Laemmle himself and was a cinema first in terms of undersea camera work.  By 1920 Moore was still appearing in films being produced in the New York area; late for the time period when the majority of studios had made the major move west.  In the early 1920's he found himself working for the Selznick Pictures Corp. By 1922 Moore had moved over to films produced at Universal (Lewis Selznick's  company would not survive much longer).  Universal's The Storm (1922) may not have been the first film that he acted in California (it likely is), but, certainly by this time, he had made the westward move at last.  By the mid-1920's he had also made films for both MGM and the new studio in town: Warner Brothers.  In 1925 he had a major role in the one silent film that he is remembered for; he assayed the role of the straight man Hector McDonald in Tod Brownings famous crime film The Unholy Three, starring amongst others, Lon Chaney Sr.  And, by the late 1920's, he had become a kind of comedy specialist, taking top billing in a number of feature length domestic follies.  He was also at the top of the bill for a couple of mystery films that did quite well at the box office.  These titles include Tillie the Toiler (1927) starring Marion Davies, Diplomacy (1926) with Blanche Sweet and Three Weeks in Paris (1925) which was penned by Darryl J. Zanuck.  The first film that he worked on that had sound was the partial silent Dry Martini in 1928; the film starred Mary Astor and featured a MovieTone musical score.  His very next film, Coquette (1929), was a full talkie of his career, and featured his sister-in-law at the time Mary Pickford (who was married to his brother Owen).  Moore weathered the transition to sound just fine (as did his brothers), his turn in the Joan Crawford film of 1932 Rain, shows his bankability in the new talking era.  He worked continuously throughout the 1930's and 1940's, though by the late 1940's his roles had dwindled to small to uncredited.  He lived long enough to debut on the small screen as well.  In 1955 he played a judge in an episode of Screen Directors Playhouse; and he went on to make a couple of more television appearances in his lifetime.  The last film that he appeared in was the B-horror mystery I Bury The Living in 1958.  Matt Moore passed away in Hollywood on the 20th of January in 1960, just a couple of weeks after his 72nd birthday.  He is buried (along with his brother Tom) in Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles.  

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Born Today May 3: Mary Astor

1906-1987

Darling of the silver screen Mary Astor was born on this day as Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke in Quincy, Illinois.  Her mother was Portuguese/Irish-American and her father was an immigrant from Germany.  Her father was a teacher at the local high school.  She was home schooled and taught to play the piano by her father.  Her own mother had wanted to be an actress, and, indeed, she was also a teacher who taught elocution and drama.  In 1919, she entered a photograph of herself in a beauty contest being run by Motion Picture Magazine, she ended up a semi-finalist.  At the age of 15, she moved with her family to Chicago, where she took drama lessons and acted in amateur plays.  She again entered that same in-print beauty contest and this time became a finalist and runner up.  She then moved to New York with her father so that she could appear in motion pictures, with her dad becoming her manager.  A Manhattan photographer, taken with her looks, asked if her could photograph her; that photo made it's way to Harry Durant of Famous Players-Lasky, which in turn landed her with a 6 month contract with Paramount.  Her birth name was seen as wholly unwieldy, so a meeting was held by industry insiders, including Jesse Lasky, and they came up with the name "Mary Astor."  Her first screen test was directed by Lillian Gish herself.  Though Sentimental Tommy (1921) might have been the first film that she actually acted in--and her scenes were cut out--it appears that she actually made her screen debut in Brother Of The Bear also dating from the year 1921.  The first full length film that she appeared in was John Smith in 1922.  Her contract with Paramount was renewed, this time for one year for $500 a week.  From this time forward, her relationship with parents began to deteriorate.  She was under age and they controlled her money, at first giving her none of what she earned.  She was eventually contracted for $2500 a week, but she was only given $5 a week in allowance.  Her parents instead used her fortune to buy a mansion on a 1 acre lot known as "Mooncrest."  Her parents led a life of luxury off of her earnings and kept basically a prisoner in the home.  When she was 19, sick of her father's abuse, both physical and psychological, she managed to escape the house from a second floor window and made her way to a hotel.  A family friend managed to get her to return home after securing a savings account for her containing $500 and the freedom to come and go at will.  Nonetheless, she would not be able to wrest her earnings from her parents until she was 26 years old!  In 1926, she joined a myriad of other Hollywood up and comers, including Joan Crawford  and Fay Wray on the list of WAMPAS Baby Stars Of 1926.  Her first film with sound was a partial silent:  Dry Martini had a musical score by MovieTone (it is yet another example of a lost film) and was released in 1928.  Her first full sound film came in 1929 with New Year's Eve and was produced by Fox.  By 1928 she was making $3,750 dollars of week, and though married and living in a home with her husband, it would not be until 1932 that she was able to gain absolute control over her monies.  Having their lifestyle taken from them, her parents sued her for support--she settled the case by awarding them $100 a month for the both of them.  Also by this time, she had spent 8 months without work, due to a failed sound test that Fox had ordered to take as the world of silents was fading.  They thought her voice was too deep and didn't suit her appearance--it is thought, however, that it was both the inadequacy of the early sound recorders and the inexperience of the technicians that caused this failure.  She then started voice training and singing lessons, but it took some time to get her career reignited in the 1930's.  But once her career was back up and going, the roles flowed in.  Also contributing to her woes during this time, her writer/director  husband Kenneth Hawks (brother of Howard) was killed in an in-air plane collision.  Today she is best know for her role The Maltese Falcon (1941).  She made her television debut in 1954 on the Kraft Theater.  Her last film appearance came in the cult horror film Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte in 1964, the film stars Bette Davis a friend of hers (by this time she was already in semi-retirement).  She then retired from acting altogether and took up writing.  In 1971, she was experiencing trouble from a chronic heart condition, so she moved to a cottage on grounds of the industry's retirement facility Motion Picture & Television Country House.  In 1980 she appeared in the documentary television mini-series Hollywood; her last filmed appearance.  Astor died at the age of 81 on 25 September 1987.  In addition to her heart condition, she had been suffering from emphysema--her cause of death was respiratory failure with a heart event involved.  She is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery, in Culver City, CA.  

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