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 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.
Born: December 16, 1884
Place of Birth: Dublin, Ireland
Known For
Filmography
as Mr Pickles
as Kevin McGovern
as Paddy Corbin
as Billy
as Mr. Thomas J. Flaherty
as Riley
as Jimmy
as Dennis Malloy
as Reverend Pascoe
as Dan O'Rourke
as Callahan
as Skipper Ben
as Uncle John
as Timothy
as Pether Flynn
as Tatie the Innkeeper
as Sullivan - Court Bailiff (uncredited)
as Patrick Murphy
as John
as Jeff Habbard
as Pillery Gow
as Robert MacPherson (uncredited)
as Father O'Malley
as Splivens
as 'Judge' Jasper Kincaid
as Edward Sullivan
as Sawyer Collins
as Mr. McDougal (uncredited)
as Caviar Jinks (uncredited)
as Foster
as John Phelps
as Charles Conliffe
as Timothy
as Crimp
as Jim
as Eli Matson
as Brother 'Doc' Joseph
as Mr. Angus McGavity
as Mr. Middleton
as Mr. McCarney
as Captain Finch
as Johnny Gallagher
as Jack Lenihan
as Mel
as Flinters
as Mike Casey
as Dan Barrett
as Timothy
as Lew Fisher
as Monahan
as Tom 'Pop' Madison
as Farr
as Mr. Clyde Corrigan Sr.
as Hot Shot Gillings
as Sgt. Flynn
as Mr. Maloney (uncredited)
as Danny Dolan, Hansom Cabbie
as Tims
as Uncle Peter
as Brook Watson
as Leach
as Sam Smith
as Pop O'Connell
as Judge Plumgate
as Pop Reilly
as Tim
as Judge Maiben
as Dr. Cudd
as Pobjoy
as Judge Harper
as Matt
as Hawkins
as Terry
as Perkins (uncredited)
as Chief Verger Tope
as Shordley
as O'Duffy
as Mr. Ryan
as Quincannon
as Mr. Curran
as Collins
as Jabez Wilson
as Pop Kearny
as Fagin
as Dan - Irish Cop (uncredited)
as Trowbridge
as Paddy Harrigan
as First Drayman
as Thomas MacMasters
as Chipley Duff
as Doyle
as Judge Lemuel Townsend
as Gateman in Show
as Peter
as John O'Day