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J.M. Kerrigan
Acting
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 Abb…
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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.
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BODY OF WORK
J.M. Kerrigan's Filmography
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The Fastest Gun Alive
as Kevin McGovern
It's a Dog's Life
as Paddy Corbin
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
as Billy
The Silver Whip
as Riley
My Cousin Rachel
as Reverend Pascoe
Park Row
as Dan O'Rourke
The Wild North
as Callahan
Two of a Kind
Sealed Cargo
as Skipper Ben
Mrs. Mike
as Uncle John
The Fighting O'Flynn
as Timothy
The Luck of the Irish
as Tatie the Innkeeper
Call Northside 777
as Sullivan - Court Bailiff (uncredited)
Abie's Irish Rose
as Patrick Murphy
Black Beauty
as John
She Went to the Races
as Jeff Habbard
The Spanish Main
as Pillery Gow
The Crime Doctor's Warning
as Robert MacPherson (uncredited)
The Great John L.
as Father O'Malley
Tarzan and the Amazons
as Splivens
The Big Bonanza
as 'Judge' Jasper Kincaid
Wilson
as Edward Sullivan
The Fighting Seabees
as Sawyer Collins
Mr. Lucky
as Mr. McDougal (uncredited)
Action in the North Atlantic
as Caviar Jinks (uncredited)
Captains of the Clouds
as Foster
The Vanishing Virginian
as John Phelps
The Wolf Man
as Charles Conliffe
Appointment for Love
as Timothy
The Long Voyage Home
as Crimp
No Time for Comedy
as Jim
The Sea Hawk
as Eli Matson
One Crowded Night
as Brother 'Doc' Joseph
Untamed
as Mr. Angus McGavity
Curtain Call
as Mr. Middleton
Young Tom Edison
as Mr. McCarney
Congo Maisie
as Captain Finch
Gone with the Wind
as Johnny Gallagher
Two Thoroughbreds
as Jack Lenihan
Sabotage
as Mel
The Witness Vanishes
as Flinters
Two Bright Boys
as Mike Casey
6,000 Enemies
as Dan Barrett
The Zero Hour
as Timothy
Union Pacific
as Monahan
Sorority House
as Lew Fisher
Undercover Agent
as Tom 'Pop' Madison
The Kid From Texas
as Farr
The Flying Irishman
as Mr. Clyde Corrigan Sr.
The Great Man Votes
as Hot Shot Gillings
Ride a Crooked Mile
as Sgt. Flynn
No Poster
Little Orphan Annie
as Tom Jennings
Spring Madness
as Mr. Maloney (uncredited)
Vacation from Love
as Danny Dolan, Hansom Cabbie
The Barrier
as Sgt. Thomas
London by Night
as Tims
Motor Madness
as Henry John 'Cap' McNeil
The Plough and the Stars
as Uncle Peter
Lloyd's of London
as Brook Watson
The General Died at Dawn
as Leach
Let's Make a Million
as Sam Smith
Spendthrift
as Pop O'Connell
Special Investigator
as Judge Plumgate
Colleen
as Pop Reilly
Laughing Irish Eyes
as Tim
The Prisoner of Shark Island
as Judge Maiben
Timothy's Quest
as Dr. Cudd
A Feather in Her Hat
as Pobjoy
Barbary Coast
as Judge Harper
Hot Tip
as Matt
Werewolf of London
as Hawkins
The Informer
as Terry
Vanessa: Her Love Story
as Perkins (uncredited)
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
as Chief Verger Tope
The Fountain
as Shordley
The Key
as O'Duffy
A Modern Hero
as Mr. Ryan
The Lost Patrol
as Quincannon
Lone Cowboy
as Mr. Curran
Paddy the Next Best Thing
as Collins
A Study in Scarlet
as Jabez Wilson
Air Hostess
as Pop Kearny
Rockabye
as Fagin
Vanity Street
as Dan - Irish Cop (uncredited)
Careless Lady
as Trowbridge
The Rainbow Trail
as Paddy Harrigan
Merely Mary Ann
as First Drayman
The Black Camel
as Thomas MacMasters
Don't Bet on Women
as Chipley Duff
Under Suspicion
as Doyle
Lightnin'
as Judge Lemuel Townsend
New Movietone Follies of 1930
as Gateman in Show
Song o' My Heart
as Peter
No Poster
Lucky In Love
as Connors
Little Old New York
as John O'Day