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