Barry Fitzgerald

At 72 years old, Barry Fitzgerald has this physical status:

William Joseph Shields (born 1888 – January 14, 1961), also known as Barry Fitzgerald, was an Irish stage, film, and television actor.

He appeared in such films as Bringing Up Baby (1938), The Long Voyage Home (1940), Going My Way (1944) and The Quiet Man (1952).

He received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (1944) and was simultaneously nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

He was Arthur Shields' older brother.

Early life

William Joseph Shields, a historian born in Walworth Road, Dublin, Ireland, is the son of Fanny Sophia (née Ungerland) and Adolphus Shields. His father was Irish and his mother was German. He was Arthur Shields' older brother.

He attended Skerry's College in Dublin before going on to work in the civil service, beginning as a junior clerk at the Dublin Board of Trade in 1911. He went back to work at the unemployment office later that year. "It was a simple job, full of leisure," he later said.

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Career

Fitzgerald was interested in acting and began appearing in amateur dramatic societies such as the Kincora Players. Arthur Shields, his brother, was in 1915, and Barry would join him shortly. He used a stage name in order not to get into trouble with his superiors in the civil service.

Fitzgerald's first appearances at the Abbey included bits in plays such as The Casting Out of Martin Whelan and a four-word excerpt in The Critic.

When he was in The Dragon by Lady Gregory in 1919, he had his breakthrough appearance at the Abbey. However, he continued to act part-time until 1929, serving his time in the civil service during the day. He appeared in The Bribe, An Imaginary Talk, John Bull's Other Island, and others.

In 1924, his pay at the Abbey was £2'10 a week. He appeared in the world premiere of Juno and the Paycock by respected playwright Seán O'Casey. Fitzgerald was Captain Jack Boyle.

He appeared in Paul Twyning, a role that was much celebrated in 1925. Fluther Good appeared in the premiere of O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars the following year. The play was controversial, sparking riots and marches. Three gunmen arrived at Fitzgerald's house one night in February 1926 with the intention of kidnapping him and stopping the game from going forward, but they were unable to locate him.

He was in The Will-Be Gentleman in 1926. The Far Off Hills, Shadow of a Gunman, and The Playboy were among the other performances at the Abbey.

In The Silver Tassie, O'Casey wrote a part for Fitzgerald, but the Abbey refused to perform it. In 1929, it was announced that it was going to be made in London. At the age of 41, Fitzgerald resigned from his civil service career to join the company and became a full-time actor.

In Alfred Hitchcock's version of Juno and the Paycock (1930), shot in London, Fitzergald made his film debut.

In early 1931, he toured England in a Paul Twyning production. In June of that year, he returned to Ireland to perform the play at the Abbey. He appeared in three plays by Irish playwright Teresa Deevy—A Disciple, In Search of Valour and Katie Roche, all Abbey Theatre productions from 1931 to 1936.

In 1932, Fitzgerald went to the United States with the Abbey Players to appear in Things That Are Caesar's and The Far-off Hills.

In 1934, the Players and Fitzgerald Company returned to America to perform a series of plays in repertory around the world. The Plough and the Stars, Drama at Inish, The Far-Off Hills, A History of the Heffernans, The Playboys of the Western World, The Shadow of the Glen, The Well of the Saints, and the Paycock were among those included on the list.

Fitzgerald appeared in a short Irish film titled Guests of the Country, which was shot in 1934 but not released for more than seven years.

Fitzgerald and three other Abbey members travelled to Hollywood in March 1936, directed by John Ford. Fitzgerald decided to remain in Hollywood, where he soon began to work as a character actor. At RKO, Four Men and a Prayer (1938), and The Dawn Patrol (1938) at Warners, he was involved in support roles in Ebb Tide (1937) at He appeared in Ebb Tide (1938) at At He was also in Ebb Tide (1938) and The Dawn Patrol (1938) at Warners.

Fitzgerald made a series of films at RKO: Pacific Liner (1939) with Victor McLaglen, and two with John Farrow (1939). Fitzgerald performed in The White Steed, one of two Farrow films, in 1939.

Following complete Confession, Fitzgerald went back to Broadway with Kindred (1939-40) and a revival of Juno and the Paycock (1940) which attracted 105 performances.

Fitzgerald was reunited with John Ford in The Long Voyage Home (1940). He worked at Universal and The Sea Wolf (1941) at Warners before doing another with Ford, How Green Was My Valley (1941), at Fox. He went to MGM for Tarzan's Mysteries (1941).

Fitzgerald and Shields performed Tanyard Street (1941) on Broadway, directed by Shields, but the show had only been on Broadway for a short time. Fitzgerald's personal notes were fine, with the New York Times naming him "the incarnation of the comedy spirit." People are already laughing when he pokes their squint face on set.

Fitzgerald made a pair of films at Universal: The Amazing Mrs. Holliday (1943), Two Tickets to London (1943), and Corvette K-225 (1943).

Fitzgerald unexpectedly became a leading man when Leo McCarey portrayed him in Going My Way (1944) as Father Fitzgibbon. The film was a huge success. Fitzgerald was nominated for both the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (which he ultimately received) and the Academy Award for Best Actor; voting procedures were changed shortly after this event to prevent any more dual nominations for the same role. He later mistakenly killed his Oscar while playing his golf swing. To compensate wartime metal shortages, Oscar statuettes were made of plaster rather than gold-plated bronze during World War II. Fitzgerald was given a replacement statuette by the academy.

Paramount, a long-term hire for Fitzgerald, was chosen going My Way. He was put in a support role in I Love a Soldier (1944), and he was borrowed by RKO for No But the Lonely Heart (1944).

Fitzgerald was involved in a car accident in March 1944 that resulted in the death of a woman and the injury of her daughter. He was charged with murder but was cleared in January 1945 due to a lack of evidence.

Fitzgerald, A.K.A. In Two Years Before the Mast, which was created by John Farrow in 1944 but not released until 1946, Fitzgerald supported Alan Laddd. In Incendiary Blonde (1945) and The Stork Club (1945), he helped Betty Hutton (1945). In between, he had a cameo as himself in Duffy's Tavern (1945) and was hired by United Artists to play the lead in And Then There Were None (1945), based on Agatha Christie's book and play. His fee was estimated to be $75,000 a film in January 1945.

Fitzgerald appeared in two more films with John Farrow (1947), where he was top billed, including Ray Milland and Easy Come, Easy Go (1947).

In Welcome Stranger (1947), Fitzgerald and Crosby met together, and he appeared in Variety Girl (1947).

In a cop film at Universal called The Naked City (1948), Mark Hellinger borrowed Fitzgerald to play the lead. It was a huge success. He appeared in The Sainted Sisters (1948) and Miss Tatlock's Millions (1948), and then did a third film with Crosby (1949).

Fitzgerald went to Warners for The Story of Seabiscuit (1949) with Shirley Temple, then with William Holden and Silver City (1951), then Paramount did Union Station (1950) with Yvonne de Carlo. In 1950, he made his television debut with "The White-Headed Boy," a Ford Theatre Hour episode.

Fitzgerald came from Italy to appear in the comedy Ha da ven... don Calogero (1952). In the classic In The Quiet Man (1952), John Ford paid him his third time. It was shot in Ireland as it was Happy Ever After (1952) with De Carlo and David Niven.

Fitzgerald appeared on television on episodes of Lux Video Theatre, GM's Theater, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

He appeared in MGM's The Catered Affair (1956) and was top billed in the British comedy Rooney (1958).

In the Irish film Broth of a Boy (1959), Fitzgerald was top billed.

Fitzgerald never married. Angus D. Taillon, a writer who died in 1953, was the guest of his apartment in Hollywood. Fitzgerald lived in Dublin in 1959, where he lived at 2 Seafield Ave. Monkstown. He underwent brain surgery in October this year. He seemed to recover, but he re-entered the hospital in late 1960. On January 14, 1961, William Joseph Shields, a heart attack survivor of a heart attack in St Patrick's Hospital, James Street.

At 6252 Hollywood Boulevard and to television at 7001 Hollywood Boulevard, Fitzgerald has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for motion pictures.

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