Mount St. Mary’s Movie Star Alumni
by James Rada, Jr.
You probably won’t recognize his name, but Thomas Meighan was once as big a movie star as Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise, and he was an alumnus of Mount St. Mary’s. He was one of the leading actors in the country in the 1920s, at one point earning $10,000 a week (about $125,000 in today’s dollars).
According to IMDB.com, Thomas “Tommy” Meighan was one of the rulers of the Hollywood roost, between the years 1915 and 1928.
In May of 1924, if you flipped through the pages of the newspapers, you would see Meighan’s name on the entertainment page in ads and reviews for his latest movie, Pied Piper Malone. Then, in the local section, was the news that Meighan had returned to Mount St. Mary’s College.
“Thomas Meighan with brother James drove to the Mount and threw the first ball across the plate in a game between Western Maryland College and his alma mater at Echo Field on Wednesday,” the Gettysburg Times reported. “He smiled his famous smile even as he watched the team representing his alma mater go down to defeat.”
He also attended a bazaar being held at the college and led the march at a dance. Students from Hood College in Frederick, Goucher College in Baltimore, and St. Joseph’s College also attended the bazaar, so Meighan drew quite the crowd.
A reporter asked Meighan when he had attended the Mount. Meighan told him, “Not a chance. That would be too embarrassing to tell. I was there for three years and they were, perhaps, the happiest days of my life.”
Meighan had been born in Pittsburgh in 1879 to a well-off family. His parents encouraged him to attend college, but Meighan stubbornly refused, so his father made him get a job shoveling coal. That changed the young man’s mind, and he enrolled at St. Mary’s College, studying pharmacology.
Despite enjoying his time at the college, Meighan knew that an academic life wasn’t for him. After three years at the Mount, he decided to pursue acting.
He dropped out of Mount St. Mary’s in 1896 and took a job with the Pittsburgh Stock Company, earning $35.00 a week. His performances earned him positive reviews, and he debuted on Broadway in 1900 and found even greater success.
Despite his success on the stage, he decided to try films in 1914. His first film, Dandy Donovan, the Gentleman Cracksman, was shot in London. His first U.S. film, The Fighting Hope, came the following year. He played across from some of the top film actresses of the day, including Mary Pickford and Gloria Swanson.
By 1919, he was considered a star. One of his last silent films, The Racket, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture in 1928.
Meighan’s first talkie was also released the same year and was called The Argyle Case.
The Gettysburg Times noted that Meighan was humble and gave the credit for his success not to himself but to the writers of his movies.
His last film was Peck’s Bad Boy in 1934. After that, he decided to retire from acting at age fifty-five and go out on a high note. Another reason for his early retirement was that he was diagnosed with cancer.
He went into real estate with his brother, but his second career was short lived. He died on July 8, 1936.
