Barry Fitzgerald
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Brother of actor Arthur Shields, with whom he performed in several films, most notably John Ford's The Quiet Man (1952). One of the very few character actors ever to achieve star status. Fitzgerald was the only player ever nominated for the Academy Award for both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor in the same year for the same role. The recognition was for Going My Way (1944). After he received this double nomination, the Academy immediately changed their rules to prevent this from happening again, rules which have remained unchanged to this day. One of Hollywood's finest character actors and most accomplished scene stealers, Barry Fitzgerald was born William Joseph Shields in 1888 in Dublin, Ireland. Educated to enter the banking business, the diminutive Irishman with the irresistible brogue was bitten by the acting bug in the 1920s and joined Dublin's world-famous Abbey Players. He subsequently starred in the Abbey Theatre production of Sean O'Casey's Juno And The Paycock, a role that he recreated in his film debut for director Alfred Hitchcock in 1930. He was coaxed to the U.S. in 1935 by John Ford to appear in Ford's film adaptation of another O'Casey masterpiece, The Plough and the Stars (1936). Fitzgerald took up residence in Hollywood and went on to give outstanding performances in such films as The Long Voyage Home (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), None But the Lonely Heart (1944), And Then There Were None (1945), Two Years Before the Mast (1946) and what is probably the role for which he is most fondly remembered, The Quiet Man (1952). He won the Academy Award For Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of gruff, aging Father Fitzgibbon in Going My Way (1944). He was also nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for the same role and was the only actor to ever be so honored. Barry Fitzgerald died in his beloved Dublin in 1961.
Known for
Credits
Two Years Before the Mast (1946)
as Terence O'Feenaghty
The Quiet Man (1952)
as Michaleen Oge Flynn
How Green Was My Valley (1941)
as Cyfartha
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
as Mr. Gogarty
And Then There Were None (1945)
as Francis Quinncannon
Marie Antoinette (1938)
as Peddler (uncredited)
The Sea Wolf (1941)
as Cooky
The Naked City (1948)
as Lt. Dan Muldoon
The Long Voyage Home (1940)
as Cocky
Tarzan's Secret Treasure (1941)
as Dennis O'Doul
Going My Way (1944)
as Father Fitzgibbon
Four Men and a Prayer (1938)
as Mulcahay
The Story of Seabiscuit (1949)
as Shawn O'Hara
The Catered Affair (1956)
as Jack Conlon
None But the Lonely Heart (1944)
as Henry Twite
Welcome Stranger (1947)
as Dr. Joseph McRory
The Saint Strikes Back (1939)
as Zipper Dyson
Union Station (1950)
as Inspector Donnelly
The Amazing Mrs. Holliday (1943)
as Timothy Blake
I Love a Soldier (1944)
as Murphy
Top o' the Morning (1949)
as Sergeant Briany McNaughton
Juno and the Paycock (1930)
as The Orator
Corvette K-225 (1943)
as Stooky
The Plough and the Stars (1936)
as Fluther Good
Incendiary Blonde (1945)
as Michael 'Mike' Guinan
Two Tickets to London (1943)
as Capt. McCardle
Miss Tatlock's Millions (1948)
as Denno Noonan
Santa Claus and the Tenth Avenue Kid (1955)
as Harold "Stretch" Sears
Easy Come, Easy Go (1947)
as Martin L. Donovan
Happy Ever After (1954)
as Thady O'Heggarty
The Stork Club (1945)
as Jerry B. 'J.B.' / 'Pop' Bates
California (1947)
as Michael Fabian
Bing Crosby: Rediscovered (2014)
as Self (archive footage)
The Dawn Patrol (1938)
as Bott
Variety Girl (1947)
as Barry Fitzgerald
Duffy's Tavern (1945)
as Bing Crosby's Father
Silver City (1951)
as R.R. Jarboe
Guests of The Nation (1935)
as Captured British soldier
Broth of a Boy (1959)
as Patrick Farrell
Pacific Liner (1939)
as Britches
The Sainted Sisters (1948)
as Robbie McCleary
Full Confession (1939)
as Michael O'Keefe
San Francisco Docks (1940)
as The Icky
Ha da venì... don Calogero! (1952)
as Don Calogero
Ebb Tide (1937)
as Huish
Rooney (1958)
as Grandfather
Cradle of Genius (1960)
as Self