Person Details

Birthday:

Aliases: Joseph M. Kerrigan , J. M. Kerrigan

Gender: Male

Place of birth: Dublin, Ireland

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 60

TV Involvements: 3


Most Famous Work

Biography

Joseph Michael Kerrigan (16 December 1884 – 29 April 1964), better known as J.M. Kerrigan, was an Irish character actor. Kerrigan was born in Dublin, Ireland. He worked as a newspaper reporter until 1907 when he joined the famous Abbey Players. There he became a stalwart, appearing in plays by Lady Gregory, William Butler Yeats and John Millington Synge (for whom he played the role of Shawn Keogh in The Playboy of the Western World. His first screen appearance was in the silent film Food of Love in 1916. By the 1920s he was appearing on Broadway, often in plays by Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Sheridan. He settled permanently in Hollywood in 1935, having been recruited along with several other Abbey performers, to appear in John Ford's The Informer. In that film and in Ford's The Long Voyage Home, he plays similar roles, that of a leech who attaches himself to men until they run out of money. Perhaps his best known role was in The General Died at Dawn, where he plays a character actually named Leach, in which he steals scenes from Gary Cooper, Madeleine Carroll and William Frawley. In it he plays a sinister little petty thief who, holding a gun on Cooper, says, "I may be fat, but I'm agile." He had little screen time in films which he starred as minor roles, such as the "First Drayman" in Merely Mary Ann (1931) with Janet Gaynor. One of his most recognizable minor roles was in Gone with the Wind (1939), in which he played John Gallegher, the seemly jovial mill owner who whips his convict labour in to "co-operation". He appeared in Walt Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), the famous film version of Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea in a minor role at the beginning of the film. In 1946, he tried breaking into Broadway shows, playing the discombobulated leprechaun Jackeen J. O'Malley in the show "Barnaby and Mr. O'Malley", based on the Crockett Johnson comic strip. J. M. Kerrigan died in Hollywood on 29 April 1964, aged 79. Kerrigan has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6621 Hollywood Blvd.

Most Famous Work

Lux Video Theatre
Average
6

Lux Video Theatre

(1950) Dr. Makery
Studio One
Average
4

Studio One

(1948) Pether Flynn
Letter to Loretta
Average
6

Letter to Loretta

(1953) Mr. Thomas J. Flaherty
Gone with the Wind
Average
8

Gone with the Wind

(1939) Johnny Gallagher
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Average
7
The Wolf Man
Average
7

The Wolf Man

(1941) Charles Conliffe
Sealed Cargo
Average
6

Sealed Cargo

(1951) Skipper Ben
The Informer
Average
7

The Informer

(1935) Terry

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
1958 N/A
1956 Kevin McGovern
1955 Paddy Corbin
N/A
N/A
1954 Billy
1953 Mr. Thomas J. Flaherty
Riley
Jimmy
Dennis Malloy
1952 Reverend Pascoe
Dan O'Rourke
Callahan
1951 Skipper Ben
1950 Dr. Makery
1949 Uncle John
Timothy
1948 Pether Flynn
Tatie the Innkeeper
Sullivan - Court Bailiff (uncredited)
1946 Patrick Murphy
John
1945 Jeff Habbard
Pillery Gow
Robert MacPherson (uncredited)
Father O'Malley
Splivens
1944 'Judge' Jasper Kincaid
Edward Sullivan
Sawyer Collins
1943 Mr. McDougal (uncredited)
Caviar Jinks (uncredited)
1942 Foster (storekeeper / Emily's father)
John Phelps
1941 Charles Conliffe
Timothy
1940 Crimp
Jim
Eli Matson
Brother 'Doc' Joseph
Angus McGavity
Mr. Middleton
Mr. McCarney
Captain Finch
1939 Johnny Gallagher
Jack Lenihan
Mel
Dan Barrett
Timothy
Monahan
Lew Fisher
Tom 'Pop' Madison
Farr
Mr. Clyde Corrigan Sr.
Hot Shot Gillings
1938 Sgt. Flynn
Tom Jennings
Mr. Maloney (uncredited)
1937 Tims
1936 Uncle Peter
Brook Watson
Leach
Pop O'Connell
Judge Plumgate
Pop Reilly
Tim
Judge Maiben
1935 Pobjoy
Judge Harper
Matt
Hawkins
Terry
Perkins (uncredited)
1934 Shordley
O'Duffy
Mr. Ryan
Quincannon
1933 Collins
Jabez Wilson
Pop Kearny
1932 Fagin
Dan - Irish Cop (uncredited)
Trowbridge
1931 Thomas MacMasters
Chipley Duff
1930 Judge Lemuel Townsend
N/A
Peter
1929 N/A
1923 John O'Day
Year Character Movie/Tv

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