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.
Known For
Billy
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Johnny Gallagher
Gone with the Wind
Sullivan - Court Bailiff (uncredited)
Call Northside 777
Sawyer Collins
The Fighting Seabees
Dan O'Rourke
Park Row
Kevin McGovern
The Fastest Gun Alive
Foster
Captains of the Clouds
Hawkins
Werewolf of London
Charles Conliffe
The Wolf Man
Terry
The Informer
Thomas MacMasters
The Black Camel
Jabez Wilson
A Study in Scarlet
Quincannon
The Lost Patrol
Captain Finch
Congo Maisie
Pop Kearny
Air Hostess
Brook Watson
Lloyd's of London
O'Duffy
The Key
Flinters
The Witness Vanishes
Mr. Curran
Lone Cowboy
Judge Maiben
The Prisoner of Shark Island
Pillery Gow
The Spanish Main
Pop Reilly
Colleen
'Judge' Jasper Kincaid
The Big Bonanza
Brother 'Doc' Joseph
One Crowded Night
Riley
The Silver Whip
Collins
Paddy the Next Best Thing
Dr. Cudd
Timothy's Quest
Paddy Corbin
It's a Dog's Life
Reverend Pascoe
My Cousin Rachel
Callahan
The Wild North
Uncle John
Mrs. Mike
Timothy
The Fighting O'Flynn
Tatie the Innkeeper
The Luck of the Irish
Patrick Murphy
Abie's Irish Rose
John
Black Beauty
Jeff Habbard
She Went to the Races
Robert MacPherson (uncredited)
The Crime Doctor's Warning
Father O'Malley
The Great John L.
Timothy
Appointment for Love
Crimp
The Long Voyage Home
Mr. Angus McGavity
Untamed
Jim
No Time for Comedy
Eli Matson
The Sea Hawk
Mr. McCarney
Young Tom Edison
Jack Lenihan
Two Thoroughbreds
Dan Barrett
6,000 Enemies
Timothy
The Zero Hour
Monahan
Union Pacific
Lew Fisher
Sorority House
Tom 'Pop' Madison
Undercover Agent
Farr
The Kid From Texas
Mr. Clyde Corrigan Sr.
The Flying Irishman
Hot Shot Gillings
The Great Man Votes
Mr. Maloney (uncredited)
Spring Madness
Sgt. Flynn
Ride a Crooked Mile
Tims
London by Night
Uncle Peter
The Plough and the Stars
Pop O'Connell
Spendthrift
Judge Plumgate
Special Investigator
Pobjoy
A Feather in Her Hat
Judge Harper
Barbary Coast
Matt
Hot Tip
Perkins (uncredited)
Vanessa: Her Love Story
Shordley
The Fountain
Mr. Ryan
A Modern Hero
Fagin
Rockabye
Dan - Irish Cop (uncredited)
Vanity Street
Trowbridge
Careless Lady
Chipley Duff
Don't Bet on Women
Judge Lemuel Townsend
Lightnin'
John O'Day
Little Old New York
Mel
Sabotage
Mr. Middleton
Curtain Call
Skipper Ben
Sealed Cargo
Peter
Song o' My Heart
Lucky In Love
Tom Jennings
Little Orphan Annie
Splivens
Tarzan and the Amazons
Leach
The General Died at Dawn
John Phelps
The Vanishing Virginian
Gateman in Show
New Movietone Follies of 1930
Edward Sullivan
Wilson
Caviar Jinks (uncredited)
Action in the North Atlantic
Mr. McDougal (uncredited)
Mr. Lucky
Tim
Laughing Irish Eyes
Paddy Harrigan
The Rainbow Trail
First Drayman
Merely Mary Ann
Sam Smith
Let's Make a Million
Mike Casey
Two Bright Boys
Danny Dolan, Hansom Cabbie
Vacation from Love
Doyle
Under Suspicion
Chief Verger Tope
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Two of a Kind
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
93
Gender
Male
Birthday
1884-12-16
Place of Birth
Dublin, Ireland
Also Known As
Joseph M. Kerrigan