Here’s a good question for a table quiz: What Irish village can boast of producing three actors with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?
Fordstown, between Kells and Athboy did that and more. The tiny Meath village produced the Moore family, five of whom became actors and made more than 740 movies between them.
Hollywood had not even started making movies when John Moore and his wife Rosanna took the brave decision to emigrate from Fordstown to the US in 1896 with their six children.
It was even braver when you consider that John was nearly 60 at the time, according to historian and writer Turtle Bunbury, who researched the family for his book The Irish Diaspora.
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The children were aged from two to 13 years old so it must have been no easy task trying to corral six children in cramped conditions on that interminable voyage to United States.
They settled in Toledo where tragedy struck five years later when their young son Jack died. A few years later, the older children Tom and Owen abandoned the corn fields of Ohio to join a travelling theatre company.
Their timing was fortuitous. They had honed their acting skills when the silent movie industry kicked off. Both brothers made their debut on the big screen in 1908. They were soon joined by Matt, and later Mary and then Joe, all of whom had matinee star looks.
The most prolific actor was Owen who made an estimated 279 movies. He married fellow actor Mary Pickford, who would go on to become one of the biggest stars in the world. Their union was turbulent and when they separated there were rumours that he was a heavy drinker and was jealous of her success.
The thrice-married Tom appeared in 186 movies according to the Hollywood Walk of Fame’s website. In 1922, he returned home and was filmed by Pathé News riding out with the Meath Hunt.
The Freeman’s Journal reported that he had only faint memories of his birthplace but he had heard so much about it from his father that he was sure he would recognise some of the oldest inhabitants. “And I can find the boreen that led off the main road to the old home with my eyes shut,” he said with pride.
Matt, who starred in some 221 movies, was a cat lover who did his best to slip his pets into as many of his movies as possible. But he didn’t confine his love of cats to the domestic variety. According to the Walk of Fame website, one of his movies, White Tiger, involved a hunting trip in Africa “on which Moore wrestled a white tiger”.
Yes, you read that right. It goes on to say: “Although sustaining minor injuries, he was able to get the tiger to tap out after locking it up in a full nelson submission hold. The footage was originally in the movie, but was edited out for time purposes”.
Mary starred in more than a dozen movies but abandoned the silver screen to join the American Red Cross during the first World War. She was working in France when she contracted what is now thought to be Spanish flu.
She died in 1919, aged 28, and was buried with military honours. Her younger brother Joe starred in about 40 movies before also dying young, drowning when he was 31.
Local historians Stephen Ball and Kenny Timmons have been researching the family for years and Stephen is working on a book about them, although he has been slightly derailed by another book – a history of the involvement of Bohermeen parish during the revolutionary period of the last century.
You would imagine that the authorities in Meath would be making the most out of Fordstown’s link to Hollywood but Meath County Council says it has no plans at present to commemorate the family.
Online sources claim there is a plaque dedicated to the family in the village, but in fact there’s not. The Moores are, however, mentioned on a village information board, alongside information about the local GAA club, the RIC barracks and other landmarks.
Meanwhile, up the road in Kells, Maureen O’Hara is honoured with a handsome bust in the town square. And she’s not even from Kells – her father was born there.
Stephen Ball says the issue of commemorating the Moores in Fordstown raises its head every now and then. “Especially if there’s a local election. But then it dies down again.” This year marks the 65th anniversary of the three brothers’ induction into the Hollywood Walk of Fame so perhaps this is the year to make more of the Moores.
