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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
December 16, 1884
Died
April 29, 1964
Place of Birth
Dublin, Ireland
Also Known As
- Joseph M. Kerrigan
- J. M. Kerrigan
J.M. Kerrigan
0.4 Popularity
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.
Known For
6.2
Mr Pickles
Shirley Temple's Storybook
1958
6.9
Kevin McGovern
The Fastest Gun Alive
1956
3.0
Paddy Corbin
It's a Dog's Life
1955
5.0
Matinee Theater
1955
5.0
Frontier
1955
7.0
Billy
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
1954
6.5
Mr. Thomas J. Flaherty
Letter to Loretta
1953
6.4
Riley
The Silver Whip
1953
6.3
Jimmy
General Electric Theater
1953
6.3
Dennis Malloy
General Electric Theater
1953
Credits
Shirley Temple's Storybook
as Mr Pickles
1958
6.2
The Fastest Gun Alive
as Kevin McGovern
1956
6.9
It's a Dog's Life
as Paddy Corbin
1955
3.0
Matinee Theater
1955
5.0
Frontier
1955
5.0
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
as Billy
1954
7.0
Letter to Loretta
as Mr. Thomas J. Flaherty
1953
6.5
The Silver Whip
as Riley
1953
6.4
General Electric Theater
as Jimmy
1953
6.3
General Electric Theater
as Dennis Malloy
1953
6.3
My Cousin Rachel
as Reverend Pascoe
1952
6.7
Park Row
as Dan O'Rourke
1952
6.7
The Wild North
as Callahan
1952
6.9
Two of a Kind
1951
6.7
Sealed Cargo
as Skipper Ben
1951
6.4
🎬
Lux Video Theatre
as Dr. Makery
1950
6.3
Mrs. Mike
as Uncle John
1949
2.0
The Fighting O'Flynn
as Timothy
1949
6.0
Studio One
as Pether Flynn
1948
5.0
The Luck of the Irish
as Tatie the Innkeeper
1948
5.7
Call Northside 777
as Sullivan - Court Bailiff (uncredited)
1948
6.6
Abie's Irish Rose
as Patrick Murphy
1946
0.0
Black Beauty
as John
1946
5.9
She Went to the Races
as Jeff Habbard
1945
5.5
The Spanish Main
as Pillery Gow
1945
6.3
The Crime Doctor's Warning
as Robert MacPherson (uncredited)
1945
5.5
The Great John L.
as Father O'Malley
1945
5.0
Tarzan and the Amazons
as Splivens
1945
6.3
The Big Bonanza
as 'Judge' Jasper Kincaid
1944
5.5
Wilson
as Edward Sullivan
1944
5.5
The Fighting Seabees
as Sawyer Collins
1944
6.2
Mr. Lucky
as Mr. McDougal (uncredited)
1943
6.9
Action in the North Atlantic
as Caviar Jinks (uncredited)
1943
7.1
Captains of the Clouds
as Foster (storekeeper / Emily's father)
1942
6.4
The Vanishing Virginian
as John Phelps
1942
6.0
The Wolf Man
as Charles Conliffe
1941
7.0
Appointment for Love
as Timothy
1941
5.7
The Long Voyage Home
as Crimp
1940
6.6
No Time for Comedy
as Jim
1940
5.4
The Sea Hawk
as Eli Matson
1940
7.1
One Crowded Night
as Brother 'Doc' Joseph
1940
4.0
Untamed
as Mr. Angus McGavity
1940
4.3
Curtain Call
as Mr. Middleton
1940
7.3
Young Tom Edison
as Mr. McCarney
1940
5.6
Congo Maisie
as Captain Finch
1940
4.2
Gone with the Wind
as Johnny Gallagher
1939
7.9
Two Thoroughbreds
as Jack Lenihan
1939
2.0
Sabotage
as Mel
1939
7.0
The Witness Vanishes
as Flinters
1939
6.3
Two Bright Boys
as Mike Casey
1939
0.0
6,000 Enemies
as Dan Barrett
1939
6.0
The Zero Hour
as Timothy
1939
4.5
Union Pacific
as Monahan
1939
6.5
Sorority House
as Lew Fisher
1939
6.8
Undercover Agent
as Tom 'Pop' Madison
1939
3.9
The Kid From Texas
as Farr
1939
6.5
The Flying Irishman
as Mr. Clyde Corrigan Sr.
1939
4.6
The Great Man Votes
as Hot Shot Gillings
1939
6.1
Ride a Crooked Mile
as Sgt. Flynn
1938
0.0
🎬
Little Orphan Annie
as Tom Jennings
1938
0.0
Spring Madness
as Mr. Maloney (uncredited)
1938
3.9
Vacation from Love
as Danny Dolan, Hansom Cabbie
1938
0.0
London by Night
as Tims
1937
5.9
The Plough and the Stars
as Uncle Peter
1936
5.8
Lloyd's of London
as Brook Watson
1936
7.1
The General Died at Dawn
as Leach
1936
6.2
Let's Make a Million
as Sam Smith
1936
0.0
Spendthrift
as Pop O'Connell
1936
5.0
Special Investigator
as Judge Plumgate
1936
5.8
Colleen
as Pop Reilly
1936
5.3
Laughing Irish Eyes
as Tim
1936
0.0
The Prisoner of Shark Island
as Judge Maiben
1936
6.8
Timothy's Quest
as Dr. Cudd
1936
3.0
A Feather in Her Hat
as Pobjoy
1935
6.8
Barbary Coast
as Judge Harper
1935
6.6
Hot Tip
as Matt
1935
5.0
Werewolf of London
as Hawkins
1935
6.0
The Informer
as Terry
1935
6.7
Vanessa: Her Love Story
as Perkins (uncredited)
1935
6.0
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
as Chief Verger Tope
1935
5.5
The Fountain
as Shordley
1934
9.5
The Key
as O'Duffy
1934
4.9
A Modern Hero
as Mr. Ryan
1934
7.0
The Lost Patrol
as Quincannon
1934
6.5
Lone Cowboy
as Mr. Curran
1933
3.5
Paddy the Next Best Thing
as Collins
1933
1.0
A Study in Scarlet
as Jabez Wilson
1933
5.5
Air Hostess
as Pop Kearny
1933
5.8
Rockabye
as Fagin
1932
6.2
Vanity Street
as Dan - Irish Cop (uncredited)
1932
6.8
Careless Lady
as Trowbridge
1932
5.2
The Rainbow Trail
as Paddy Harrigan
1932
0.0
Merely Mary Ann
as First Drayman
1931
0.0
The Black Camel
as Thomas MacMasters
1931
6.0
Don't Bet on Women
as Chipley Duff
1931
4.2
Under Suspicion
as Doyle
1930
0.0
Lightnin'
as Judge Lemuel Townsend
1930
3.7
New Movietone Follies of 1930
as Gateman in Show
1930
0.0
Song o' My Heart
as Peter
1930
4.4
🎬
Lucky In Love
1929
0.0
Little Old New York
as John O'Day
1923
6.4