Frank McGlynn Sr.
Frank McGlynn Sr. was an American stage and screen actor who, in a career that spanned more than half a century, is best known for his convincing impersonations and performances as Abraham Lincoln in both plays and films.
Early life
McGlynn was born in 1866 in San Francisco, the eldest of four children of Mary and Frank McGlynn. Federal census records indicate that McGlynn, in addition to having two younger sisters, had a younger brother, George, who died sometime between 1870 and 1880. Those records show too that McGlynn's mother, a native of Australia, immigrated to the United States with her Irish parents around the time of the California Gold Rush. His father, also of Irish ancestry, moved to California and supported the family there as a carpenter and later by working in real estate.
Originally McGlynn studied to be a lawyer. He received his law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and was admitted to the bar in 1894.
Career
By 1896, however, McGlynn had turned to a career entirely different from law. That year he began appearing on stage in New York at the Casino Theatre, performing in The Gold Bug, a burlesque musical comedy written by Glen MacDonough with music from Victor Herbert. Later that year McGlynn toured in a road production of Under the Red Robe, a story based on Stanley Weyman's novel that was adapted for the stage by Edward Everett Rose. Over the next two decades McGlynn performed mostly in supporting roles with stock companies and in early silent films.
McGlynn's first film role in which he impersonated Abraham Lincoln was in 1915 in The Life of Abraham Lincoln directed by Langdon West for the Edison Studios in New York. Four years later the actor's big break came when, at age fifty-three, the six-foot four-inch actor earned the starring role to portray the former president again in the Broadway production of John Drinkwater's play Abraham Lincoln. That stage production had a run of 193 performances at the Cort Theatre in Manhattan and then toured the country for over two years. In 1924, McGlynn also performed in an excerpt from Drinkwater's play that was actually recorded. Lee de Forest and J. Searle Dawley produced a two-reel short of Abraham Lincoln using De Forest's Phonofilm sound-on-film process. Unfortunately, with the exceptions of some film stills that survive, no full copy or partial reels of that motion picture have been found.
McGlynn went on to play in seven more Broadway plays; his last as Johnnie, in Frankie and Johnnie at the Theatre Republic in 1930. McGlynn's 1919 performance as Lincoln had rejuvenated his film career, which lasted into the late 1940s. In at least ten films he portrayed "The Great Emancipator"; and in one other film, Are We Civilized?, he was cast as an actor named Felix Bockner who in the plot performs as Lincoln.
Death
McGlynn died at the age of eighty-four on May 18, 1951, at his daughter's residence in Newburgh, New York. He was survived by four daughters—Grace, Helen, Virginia, and Mary Rose—and by a son, Reverend Thomas McGlynn. His wife, Rose, and son, Frank Jr., preceded him in death. He is interred in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.
Selected filmography
Who Will Marry Mary? The Pines of Lorey - John BoydThrough Troubled Waters - Bill FordThe Way Back - Samuel KingmanVanity Fair - Captain William DobbinGloria's Romance - Gideon TraskThe Argyle Case - John ArgyleThe Poor Little Rich Girl - The PlumberThe Mad Lover - Lawyer RobertsonRough and Ready - The SiwashThe Accidental Honeymoon - Farmer PerkinsWhy America Will Win - John F. PershingThe Caillaux Case - Emperor William of GermanyThe A.B.C. of Love - Innkeeper Abraham Lincoln - Abraham LincolnGood News - Prof. KenyonThe Jazz Cinderella - Henry MurrayMin and Bill - Mr. SouthardThe Great Meadow - Minor Role The Secret 6 - JudgeHuckleberry Finn - Second teacher Polly of the Circus - Head of Parish Board The Wet Parade - Food Control Speaker Lady and Gent - PrincipalFrisco Jenny - Good Book Charlie Employees' Entrance - The Editor Hello, Everybody! - Jonathan ReedUnknown Valley - Head ElderCharlie Chan's Greatest Case - Amos WinterslipMassacre - MissionarySearch for Beauty - Rev. RankinLittle Miss Marker - Doc ChesleyAre We Civilized? - Felix Bockner and LincolnWild Gold - Thompson the Storekeeper Belle of the Nineties - Justice of the Peace Lost in the Stratosphere - Col. WorthingtonThe Mighty Barnum - Barnum's Butler Folies Bergère de Paris - JosephIt's a Small World - Snake Brown Jr.Goin' to Town - Judge The Roaring West - Jinglebob MorganOutlawed Guns - JinglesCaptain Blood - Rev. OgleThe Littlest Rebel - Abraham LincolnIt's Up to You The Prisoner of Shark Island - President Abraham LincolnThe Trail of the Lonesome Pine - Preacher These Three - Judge For the Service - Jim LaMontHearts in Bondage - Abraham LincolnParole! - A.R. Patton The Last of the Mohicans - David GamutKing of the Royal Mounted - Henry DundasNorth of Nome - U. S. MarshalThe Plainsman - Abraham Lincoln Career Woman - Sheriff DuncanThe Great Barrier - Sir John Macdonald - Prime Minister of CanadaThat I May Live - Dr. Curtis Parnell - Pat Hogan Sing and Be Happy - SheriffSaratoga - Ed Kenyon Broadway Melody of 1938 - Boardinghouse Resident Western Gold - Abraham LincolnSudden Bill Dorn - Cap JinksWells Fargo - Abraham LincolnThe Bad Man of Brimstone - Minister at Wedding The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Minister The Lone Ranger - Lincoln The Girl of the Golden West - Pete - Gambler Lincoln in the White House - LincolnLove Affair - Orphanage Superintendent Second Fiddle - Lincolnesque Actor The Honeymoon's Over - Thin ManThe Mad Empress - President Abraham LincolnBoom Town - DeaconThird Finger, Left Hand - Judge Holman A Girl, a Guy and a Gob - PankySergeant York - Mountaineer Three Girls About Town - Josephus WiegalMarry the Boss's Daughter - HoffmanSyncopation - Simon Goodwill In Old California - Old Miner Delinquent Daughters - Judge CraigRogues' Gallery - BlakeI Was a Criminal - Prison WardenSlightly Scandalous - Graves Trail Street - Tim McKeon Hollywood Barn Dance - Pa Tubb