James O'Neill (actor)

James O'Neill
O'Neill as Abbé Busoni in Monte Cristo, 1893
Born	(1847-11-15)November 15, 1847 Kilkenny, Ireland
Died	August 10, 1920(1920-08-10) (aged 72) New London, Connecticut
Occupation	Stage, film actor
Spouse(s)	Mary Ellen Quinlan
Children	James, Edmond, Eugene

James O'Neill (November 15, 1847 – August 10, 1920) was an Irish-American theatre actor and the father of the American playwright Eugene O'Neill.

James O'Neill was born on November 15, 1847 in County Kilkenny, Ireland. His parents were distant cousins, Edward and Mary O'Neill. His father was a farmer. The family emigrated to America and settled in Buffalo, New York. In 1857 they moved to Cincinnati, Ohio where James was apprenticed to a machinist. His father Edward abandoned them to return to Ireland, where he soon died.

James O'Neill's brother-in-law offered him a job in his business selling military uniforms during the Civil War. He also paid for a tutor for James. Later, O'Neill tried to establish several small businesses, all of which failed. James O'Neill, in his son's view, was a man crippled by the fear of the poorhouse that had been implanted in childhood by the Irish famine.

At the age of 21, he made his stage debut in a Cincinnati, Ohio, production of Boucicault's The Colleen Bawn (1867). Also in 1867, Edwin Forrest embarked on a "farewell tour". O'Neill had a minor part in Forrest's Cincinnati production of Virginius, and then joined a travelling repertory company. He played a young sailor in Joseph Jefferson's Rip Van Winkle and for the first time found his brogue a handicap. He also played Macduff to Edwin Booth's Macbeth.

The San Francisco Chronicle of August 3, 1879 described James O'Neill as "...a quiet gentleman of medium height, well-proportioned figure, square shoulders and stands very erect. He has black hair, black eyes, rather dark complexion, a black mustache, and a fine set of teeth which he knows how to display to advantage." Though not tall, James carried himself with a natural grace that gave him stature and he had, in addition to classical good looks, a magnetic stage presence. His son described him as being "broad-shouldered and deep-chested," with "a big, finely-shaped head, a handsome profile, deep-set, light-brown eyes."