Career Highlights: She Done Him Wrong, The Black Bird, Code of the West
First Major Screen Credit: The Battle of the Sexes (1914)
Biography
Irish-born Owen Moore came to America at age 11, along with his three brothers, Matt, Tom, and Joe -- actors all. At 19, Moore began his theatrical career, abandoning the stage in 1908 to work with D.W. Griffith at the Biograph film studio. Here he met ingénue Mary Pickford, whom he married in secret (a secret that didn't last very long), then divorced in 1920 when both he and Mary found others to fulfill their private lives. Owen Moore's later career was not as successful, though he staged some worthwhile comeback attempts throughout the talkie era: co-starring with his brothers, Matt and Tom, in 1929's Side Street, offering a bizarre and unsettling performance as Mae West's imprisoned ex-boyfriend in She Done Him Wrong, and convincingly portraying a cold-sober movie director in Selznick's A Star Is Born (1937). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Owen Moore (December 12, 1886 - June 9, 1939) was born in Fordstown Crossroads, County Meath, Ireland. Along with his brothers Tom, Matt, & Joe (1895-1926), he emigrated to America and they all went on to successful careers in motion pictures in Hollywood, California. Moore made 279 movies spanning from 1908 to 1937, possibly more than any other actor.
While working at D.W. Griffith'sBiograph Studios, Owen Moore met a young Canadian actress named Gladys Smith whom he married on January 7, 1911. Their marriage was kept secret at first because of the strong opposition of her mother. However, Gladys Moore would soon overshadow her husband under her stage name, Mary Pickford. In 1912, he signed on with Victor Studios, co-starring in a number of their films with studio owner/actress Florence Lawrence.
Mary Pickford left Biograph Studios to join the IMP Co. to replace their major star, Pickford’s Canadian friend, Florence Lawrence. Carl Laemmle, the owner of IMP Co., agreed to sign her husband as part of the deal. This humiliation and his wife's meteoric rise to fame, drastically affected Owen Moore and alcohol became a problem that led to violent behaviour and his physically abusing Pickford. Before long, the marriage ended and Mary Pickford left him for actor Douglas Fairbanks.
Owen Moore married a second time to another silent film actress, Katherine Perry. Although Moore was a good actor, his talent for singing and music went to waste during the silent film era. By the time "musical talkies" came along, it was too late for Moore to take much advantage of his gifts.