Barry Fitzgerald
Acting • Born 1888-03-09 – Died 1961-01-14
Biography
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.
Filmography
53 credits
Cradle of Genius
Movie • 1960
Self
Bringing Up Baby
Movie • 1938
Aloysius Gogarty
The Quiet Man
Movie • 1952
Michaleen Oge Flynn
And Then There Were None
Movie • 1945
Francis Quinncannon
The Naked City
Movie • 1948
Lt. Dan Muldoon
The Sea Wolf
Movie • 1941
Cooky
Tarzan's Secret Treasure
Movie • 1941
Dennis O'Doul
How Green Was My Valley
Movie • 1941
Cyfartha
Union Station
Movie • 1950
Inspector Donnelly
The Story of Seabiscuit
Movie • 1949
Shawn O'Hara
The Amazing Mrs. Holliday
Movie • 1943
Timothy Blake
The Dawn Patrol
Movie • 1938
Bott
Going My Way
Movie • 1944
Father Fitzgibbon
Juno and the Paycock
Movie • 1930
The Orator
The Saint Strikes Back
Movie • 1939
Zipper Dyson
None But the Lonely Heart
Movie • 1944
Henry Twite
The Long Voyage Home
Movie • 1940
Cocky
San Francisco Docks
Movie • 1940
The Icky
The Catered Affair
Movie • 1956
Uncle Jack Conlon
The Stork Club
Movie • 1945
Jerry B. 'J.B.' / 'Pop' Bates
California
Movie • 1947
Michael Fabian
Variety Girl
Movie • 1947
Barry Fitzgerald
Welcome Stranger
Movie • 1947
Dr. Joseph McRory
Incendiary Blonde
Movie • 1945
Michael 'Mike' Guinan
Top o' the Morning
Movie • 1949
Sergeant Briany McNaughton
The Plough and the Stars
Movie • 1936
Fluther Good
Rooney
Movie • 1958
Grandfather
Easy Come, Easy Go
Movie • 1947
Martin L. Donovan
Ebb Tide
Movie • 1937
Huish
The Sainted Sisters
Movie • 1948
Robbie McCleary
I Love a Soldier
Movie • 1944
Murphy
Two Tickets to London
Movie • 1943
Capt. McCardle
Happy Ever After
Movie • 1954
Thady O'Heggarty
Two Years Before the Mast
Movie • 1946
Terence O'Feenaghty
Full Confession
Movie • 1939
Michael O'Keefe
Four Men and a Prayer
Movie • 1938
Mulcahay
Miss Tatlock's Millions
Movie • 1948
Denno Noonan
Pacific Liner
Movie • 1939
Britches
Silver City
Movie • 1951
R.R. Jarboe
Corvette K-225
Movie • 1943
Stooky
Broth of a Boy
Movie • 1959
Patrick Farrell
Duffy's Tavern
Movie • 1945
Bing Crosby's Father
Guests of The Nation
Movie • 1935
Captured British soldier
Bing Crosby: Rediscovered
Movie • 2014
Self (archive footage)
Marie Antoinette
Movie • 1938
Peddler (uncredited)
Ha da venì... don Calogero!
Movie • 1952
Don Calogero
Santa Claus and the Tenth Avenue Kid
Movie • 1955
Harold "Stretch" Sears
The Ed Sullivan Show
TV • 1948
Self
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV • 1955
Harold 'Stretch' Sears
Lux Video Theatre
TV • 1950
Barry Flynn
What's My Line?
TV • 1950
Self
Play of the Week
TV • 1959