1847-1920
Irish born American actor James O'Neill was born on this day in County Kilkenny, Ireland. O'Neill was primarily a man of the stage, and a handful of films (mostly in the teens) and father of playwright Eugene O'Neill--making him the great grandfather of all eight of Charlie Chaplin and Oona O'Neill Chaplin's children. O'Neill was already famous by the time he made an equally famous film debut. He had been acting professionally since the age of 21, having made his stage debut in Cincinnati. This came about due to the O'Neill family relocating in the Ohio city from Ireland, by way of Buffalo, New York. What made him so well known was not great or high skills in acting--though he was quite good--but that he had become a matinee draw--to the point of becoming an idol. He spent time in touring companies, though he and his wife settled on the west coast in San Francisco, instead of New York, where their eldest son was born. They did return to the east coast shortly after (famous son Eugene was born in New York City). James became famous for his acting in the stage adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo; in fact he was so famous for it, his appearances in other plays, including some of Shakespeare's historical works, suffered for it. It is then little surprise that his film debut came as Edmond Dantes in the 1913 film of The Count of Monte Cristo, produced by Famous Players and co-directed by Joseph A. Golden and former Edison man Edwin S. Porter. At the time he made the film he was at what we think of as retirement age now: 65. He didn't appear in another film for five years, and would only make eight more films in his career. He was pushing 70 years of age when he appeared in God of Little Children, which was released in the winter of 1917. It was the first of three films he acted in during that year. Although, he appeared one film in 1918 (The Grain of Dust), his most prolific year acting in films was his last. The first of four films in 1920 that he had roles in was a short Hoot Gibson western: The Sheriff's Oath, released in February. His last film was also a western, this time a Harry Carey Sr. feature: West is West. This film was released in November, some three months after O'Neill's death at the age of 72. O'Neill had passed away in New London, Connecticut on the 10th of August. He was buried locally at Saint Mary Cemetery in a family plot.
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| [Source: Find A Grave] |
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| [Source: Iain MacFarlaine (Find A Grave)] |
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