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