Barry Fitzgerald
Barry Fitzgerald | |
---|---|
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Born |
William Joseph Shields 10 March 1888 Dublin, Ireland |
Died |
14 January 1961 72) Dublin, Ireland | (aged
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1924–61 |
Spouse(s) | Lifelong bachelor |
Barry Fitzgerald (10 March 1888 – 14 January 1961) was an Irish stage, film and television actor.[1] In a career spanning almost forty years, he appeared in such notable films as Bringing Up Baby (1938), The Long Voyage Home (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), None but the Lonely Heart (1944) and The Quiet Man (1952). For Going My Way (1944), he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and was simultaneously nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Life
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He was born William Joseph Shields in Walworth Road, Portobello, Dublin, Ireland.[2] He was the older brother of Irish actor Arthur Shields. He went to Skerry's College, Dublin, before going on to work in the civil service,[3] while also working at the Abbey Theatre. His career with the Abbey Theatre was from 1914 - 1936 where he was involved in numerous productions[4]
By 1929, he turned to acting full-time. He was briefly a roommate of famed playwright Seán O'Casey[5] and starred in such plays as O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock and the premiere of The Silver Tassie.
Between 1931 and 1936 he appeared in three plays by Irish Playwright Teresa Deevy, A Disciple,[6] In Search of Valour[7] and Katie Roche,[8] these were also Abbey Theatre productions.
Fitzgerald went to Hollywood to star in another O'Casey work, The Plough and the Stars (1936), directed by John Ford.[2] He had a successful Hollywood career in such films as The Long Voyage Home (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), And Then There Were None (1945), The Naked City (1948) and The Quiet Man (1952).
In 1945, Fitzgerald achieved an as-yet-unmatched Academy Awards feat. For portraying Father Fitzgibbon in Leo McCarey's Going My Way (1944), he was nominated for both the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (which he ultimately won) and the Academy Award for Best Actor;[2] voting rules were changed shortly after this occurrence to prevent further dual nominations for the same role. An avid golfer, he later accidentally decapitated his Oscar while practicing his golf swing; during the Second World War, Oscar statuettes were made of plaster instead of gold, to accommodate wartime metal shortages. The Academy provided Fitzgerald with a replacement statuette.[9]
He returned to live in Dublin in 1959.[2]
Fitzgerald has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for films at 6220 Hollywood Blvd. and for television at 7001 Hollywood Blvd.
Filmography
Year | Film | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1924 | Land of Her Fathers | ||
1929 | Juno and the Paycock | The Orator | |
1935 | Guests of the Nation | Captured of British Soldier | |
1936 | The Plough and the Stars | Fluther Good | |
1937 | Ebb Tide | Huish | |
1938 | Bringing Up Baby | Mr. Gogarty | |
Four Men and a Prayer | Trooper Mulcahay | ||
Marie Antoinette | Peddler | Uncredited | |
The Dawn Patrol | Bott | ||
1939 | Pacific Liner | Britches | |
The Saint Strikes Back | Zipper Dyson | ||
Full Confession | Michael O'Keefe | ||
1940 | The Long Voyage Home | Cocky | With John Wayne. |
The San Francisco Docks | The Icky | ||
1941 | The Sea Wolf | Cooky | |
How Green Was My Valley | Cyfartha | ||
Tarzan's Secret Treasure | O'Doul | With Johnny Weissmuller. | |
1943 | The Amazing Mrs. Holliday | Timothy Blake | |
Two Tickets to London | Captain McCardle | ||
Corvette K-225 | Stooky O'Meara | ||
1944 | Going My Way | Father Fitzgibbon | Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Nominated–Academy Award for Best Actor |
I Love a Soldier | Murphy | ||
None but the Lonely Heart | Henry Twite | ||
1945 | Incendiary Blonde | Michael 'Mike' Guinan | |
Duffy's Tavern | Bing Crosby's Father | ||
And Then There Were None | Judge Francis J. Quinncannon | ||
The Stork Club | Jerry B. 'J.B.'/'Pop' Bates | ||
1946 | Two Years Before the Mast | Terrence O'Feenaghty | |
1947 | California | Michael Fabian | |
Easy Come, Easy Go | Martin L. Donovan | ||
Welcome Stranger | Dr. Joseph McRory | ||
Variety Girl | Himself | ||
1948 | The Naked City | Detective Lt. Dan Muldoon | |
The Sainted Sisters | Robbie McCleary | ||
Miss Tatlock's Millions | Denno Noonan | ||
1949 | Top o' the Morning | Sergeant Briany McNaughton | |
The Story of Seabiscuit | Shawn O'Hara | ||
1950 | Union Station | Inspector Donnelly | |
1951 | Silver City | R.R. Jarboe | |
1952 | Ha da venì... don Calogero! | Don Calogero | |
The Quiet Man | Michaleen Oge Flynn | With John Wayne. | |
Lux Video Theatre | Barry Flynn | episode: The Man Who Struck It Rich | |
1954 | Tonight's the Night | Thady O'Heggarty | |
1955 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Harold 'Stretch' Sears | episode: Santa Claus and the Tenth Avenue Kid |
1956 | The Catered Affair | Uncle Jack Conlon | |
1958 | Rooney | Grandfather | |
1959 | Broth of a Boy | Patrick Farrell | |
Source: "Barry Fitzgerald". IMDb. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
Radio appearances
Year | Program | Episode/source |
---|---|---|
1952 | Lux Radio Theatre | Top o' the Morning[10] |
See also
References and sources
- ↑ Obituary Variety, 18 January 1961, page 70.
- 1 2 3 4 Boylan 1999, p. 130.
- ↑ Fitzgerald, Barry - International Dictionary of Film and Filmmakers, (2000) by Anthony Slide
- ↑ "Abbey Theatre Archives".
- ↑ Allmovie Barry Fitzgerald biography
- ↑ "Teresa Deevy Archive".
- ↑ "Teresa Deevy Archive".
- ↑ "Teresa Deevy Archive".
- ↑ The Only Oscar Winner to Destroy His Academy Award With a Golf Club - Barry Fitzgerald. 1945
- ↑ Kirby, Walter (March 16, 1952). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review. p. 44. Retrieved May 23, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- Boylan, Henry (1999). A Dictionary of Irish Biography. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan. ISBN 0-7171-2945-4.
External links
- Barry Fitzgerald at the Internet Movie Database
- Barry Fitzgerald at the Internet Broadway Database
- Photos of Barry Fitzgerald in The Long Voyage Home by Ned Scott
- Barry Fitzgerald at the Abbey Theatre
- Barry Fitzgerald at the Teresa Deevy Archive