J.M. Kerrigan
95 movies · 7 TV shows
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- Dec 16, 1884
- Died
- Apr 29, 1964 (age 79)
- Place of birth
- Dublin, Ireland
- Also known as
- Joseph M. Kerrigan · J. M. Kerrigan
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.
Profiles IMDb
Known for
J.M. Kerrigan: movies and TV shows
Acting (102)
- 1958
- 1956 The Fastest Gun Alive
as Kevin McGovern
- 1955 It's a Dog's Life
as Paddy Corbin
- 1955
- 1955
- 1954 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
as Billy
- 1953
- 1953 The Silver Whip
as Riley
- 1953
- 1952 My Cousin Rachel
as Reverend Pascoe
- 1952 Park Row
as Dan O'Rourke
- 1952 The Wild North
as Callahan
- 1951
- 1951 Sealed Cargo
as Skipper Ben
- 1950
- 1949 Mrs. Mike
as Uncle John
- 1949 The Fighting O'Flynn
as Timothy
- 1948
- 1948 The Luck of the Irish
as Tatie the Innkeeper
- 1948 Call Northside 777
as Sullivan - Court Bailiff (uncredited)
- 1946 Abie's Irish Rose
as Patrick Murphy
- 1946 Black Beauty
as John
- 1945 She Went to the Races
as Jeff Habbard
- 1945 The Spanish Main
as Pillery Gow
- 1945 The Crime Doctor's Warning
as Robert MacPherson (uncredited)
- 1945 The Great John L.
as Father O'Malley
- 1945 Tarzan and the Amazons
as Splivens
- 1944 The Big Bonanza
as 'Judge' Jasper Kincaid
- 1944 Wilson
as Edward Sullivan
- 1944 The Fighting Seabees
as Sawyer Collins
- 1943 Mr. Lucky
as Mr. McDougal (uncredited)
- 1943 Action in the North Atlantic
as Caviar Jinks (uncredited)
- 1942 Captains of the Clouds
as Foster
- 1942 The Vanishing Virginian
as John Phelps
- 1941 The Wolf Man
as Charles Conliffe
- 1941 Appointment for Love
as Timothy
- 1940 The Long Voyage Home
as Crimp
- 1940 No Time for Comedy
as Jim
- 1940 The Sea Hawk
as Eli Matson
- 1940 One Crowded Night
as Brother 'Doc' Joseph
- 1940 Untamed
as Mr. Angus McGavity
- 1940 Curtain Call
as Mr. Middleton
- 1940 Young Tom Edison
as Mr. McCarney
- 1940 Congo Maisie
as Captain Finch
- 1939 Gone with the Wind
as Johnny Gallagher
- 1939 Two Thoroughbreds
as Jack Lenihan
- 1939 Sabotage
as Mel
- 1939 The Witness Vanishes
as Flinters
- 1939 Two Bright Boys
as Mike Casey
- 1939 6,000 Enemies
as Dan Barrett
- 1939 The Zero Hour
as Timothy
- 1939 Sorority House
as Lew Fisher
- 1939 Union Pacific
as Monahan
- 1939 Undercover Agent
as Tom 'Pop' Madison
- 1939 The Kid From Texas
as Farr
- 1939 The Flying Irishman
as Mr. Clyde Corrigan Sr.
- 1939 The Great Man Votes
as Hot Shot Gillings
- 1938 Ride a Crooked Mile
as Sgt. Flynn
- 1938 Little Orphan Annie
as Tom Jennings
- 1938 Spring Madness
as Mr. Maloney (uncredited)
- 1938 Vacation from Love
as Danny Dolan, Hansom Cabbie
- 1937 The Barrier
as Sgt. Thomas
- 1937 London by Night
as Tims
- 1937 Motor Madness
as Henry John 'Cap' McNeil
- 1936 The Plough and the Stars
as Uncle Peter
- 1936 Lloyd's of London
as Brook Watson
- 1936 The General Died at Dawn
as Leach
- 1936 Let's Make a Million
as Sam Smith
- 1936 Spendthrift
as Pop O'Connell
- 1936 Special Investigator
as Judge Plumgate
- 1936 Colleen
as Pop Reilly
- 1936 Laughing Irish Eyes
as Tim
- 1936 The Prisoner of Shark Island
as Judge Maiben
- 1936 Timothy's Quest
as Dr. Cudd
- 1935 A Feather in Her Hat
as Pobjoy
- 1935 Barbary Coast
as Judge Harper
- 1935 Hot Tip
as Matt
- 1935 Werewolf of London
as Hawkins
- 1935 The Informer
as Terry
- 1935 Vanessa: Her Love Story
as Perkins (uncredited)
- 1935 The Mystery of Edwin Drood
as Chief Verger Tope
- 1934 The Fountain
as Shordley
- 1934 The Key
as O'Duffy
- 1934 A Modern Hero
as Mr. Ryan
- 1934 The Lost Patrol
as Quincannon
- 1933 Lone Cowboy
as Mr. Curran
- 1933 Paddy the Next Best Thing
as Collins
- 1933 A Study in Scarlet
as Jabez Wilson
- 1933 Air Hostess
as Pop Kearny
- 1932 Rockabye
as Fagin
- 1932 Vanity Street
as Dan - Irish Cop (uncredited)
- 1932 Careless Lady
as Trowbridge
- 1932 The Rainbow Trail
as Paddy Harrigan
- 1931 Merely Mary Ann
as First Drayman
- 1931 The Black Camel
as Thomas MacMasters
- 1931 Don't Bet on Women
as Chipley Duff
- 1930 Under Suspicion
as Doyle
- 1930 Lightnin'
as Judge Lemuel Townsend
- 1930 New Movietone Follies of 1930
as Gateman in Show
- 1930 Song o' My Heart
as Peter
- 1929 Lucky In Love
as Connors
- 1923 Little Old New York
as John O'Day