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Sean McClory

Sean McClory

Actor · 1924 – 2003 · Dublin, Ireland

Sean McClory was born in Dublin, Ireland, but spent his early life in Galway. He was the son of Hugh Patrick, an architect and civil engineer, and Mary Margaret Ball, who had been a model. Sean decided to become an actor and joined Dublin's renowned Abbey Theater (also known as the National Theater of Ireland, opened in 1904). He rose through the ranks playing in productions of the works of such authors as William Butler Yeats and George Bernard Shaw, and soon began to play leads mostly in comedies (popular through most of the 1940s and into the 1950s). When comedies began to fade from the theater after World War II, McClory turned an eye toward film. In early 1947 he decided to make the jump to America and break into Hollywood. His first roles were that of a staple in American films: the Irish cop, which he played in two of the Dick Tracy series in 1947. In 1949 he signed a short contract with 20th Century-Fox. By 1950 he was showing up in more notable films - though uncredited, particularly in The Glass Menagerie (1950). Within a year McClory's talents were being showcased in various small feature roles. John Ford finally began casting - a painstaking process for the finicky director - for his long conceived The Quiet Man (1952) and chose McClory for a small but showy part, in which he was seen throughout the film feature with Charles B. Fitzsimons, the younger brother of the film's star, Maureen O'Hara, playing an Irish villager. Although some of the cast were familiar members of the "John Ford Stock Company", many roles were filled by actual Irish villagers (the film was shot on location) and included a generous helping of Abbey Theater alumni: the Shields brothers (Barry Fitzgerald and Arthur Shields) and Jack MacGowran, in addition to O'Hara McClory. Ford wanted him for roles in several of his subsequent films, however McClory's busy film and TV schedule only allowed him to accept roles in two other Ford films, The Long Gray Line and Cheyenne Autumn. McClory had a cultured, neutral Irish brogue that fit well in small- or big-screen performances, unlike such Irish actors as Barry Fitzgerald who, though very effective and beloved, had a thick brogue that kept him forever cast as an Irishman. As a result, McClory was much more at home in American TV and had many memorable roles from 1953 onward, appearing in a gamut of episodic TV in addition to his feature film work. However, it was his frequent appearances on the small screen that enabled McClory to stand out in viewers' memories, especially in a range of western and adventure series (in which he played a good sprinkling of Irish characters) well into the 1970s. Though not as busy in the 1980s as he was in the '70s, one role in which he truly stood out was in an adaptation by John Huston of Irish writer James Joyce's famous 1907 short story "The Dead" made in 1987 (The Dead (1987)), his final film appearance. McClory's role as Mr. Grace was not a character in the original story but was created by Huston and his son Tony Huston to provide McClory with a reading of the medieval Irish poem "Young Donal", which was very effective to the mood of this look at Irish family remembrance.

Movies24

  • Movie7.3

    The Quiet Man

    1952 · 627 votes

  • Movie6.8

    Them!

    1954 · 485 votes

  • Movie6.8

    Niagara

    1953 · 458 votes

  • Movie6.2

    Body Bags

    1993 · 401 votes

  • Movie6.6

    Bandolero!

    1968 · 135 votes

  • Movie6.7

    Cheyenne Autumn

    1964 · 151 votes

  • Movie6.8

    The Dead

    1987 · 197 votes

  • Movie6.7
  • Movie6.3

    The Gnome-Mobile

    1967 · 73 votes

  • Movie6.4

    Anne of the Indies

    1951 · 48 votes

  • Movie5.6

    Dick Tracy's Dilemma

    1947 · 28 votes

  • Movie6.3
  • Movie7.0

    The Long Gray Line

    1955 · 57 votes

  • Movie6.2

    The King's Thief

    1955 · 12 votes

  • Movie6.5

    Moonfleet

    1955 · 133 votes

  • Movie6.7

    Follow Me, Boys!

    1966 · 34 votes

  • Movie6.2

    Island in the Sky

    1953 · 74 votes

  • Movie5.6

    Roller Boogie

    1979 · 46 votes

  • Movie5.5
  • Movie6.9

    The Happiest Millionaire

    1967 · 42 votes

  • Movie7.0

    The King's Pirate

    1967 · 7 votes

  • Movie6.3

    Plunder of the Sun

    1953 · 18 votes

  • Movie6.6

    Storm Warning

    1951 · 46 votes

  • Movie5.4

    Man in the Attic

    1953 · 54 votes

Series24

  • TV8.1

    Columbo

    1971 · 857 votes

  • TV7.7

    Perry Mason

    1957 · 139 votes

  • TV7.5

    Murder, She Wrote

    1984 · 471 votes

  • TV7.5

    Bonanza

    1959 · 500 votes

  • TV7.1

    The Rifleman

    1958 · 54 votes

  • TV6.8

    Mannix

    1967 · 56 votes

  • TV5.5

    Falcon Crest

    1981 · 64 votes

  • TV7.0

    Daniel Boone

    1964 · 34 votes

  • TV5.3

    Matinee Theater

    1955 · 7 votes

  • TV6.3

    Lassie

    1954 · 74 votes

  • TV7.3

    Have Gun, Will Travel

    1957 · 44 votes

  • TV7.8

    Alfred Hitchcock Presents

    1955 · 265 votes

  • TV5.9
  • TV5.7

    One Step Beyond

    1959 · 15 votes

  • TV6.8

    Four Star Playhouse

    1952 · 11 votes

  • TV6.5

    The Virginian

    1962 · 35 votes

  • TV6.8
  • TV3.8

    Climax!

    1954 · 12 votes

  • TV6.9

    The Beverly Hillbillies

    1962 · 139 votes

  • TV7.2

    Rawhide

    1959 · 49 votes

  • TV6.2
  • TV7.1

    Wanted: Dead or Alive

    1958 · 38 votes

  • TV6.7

    Gunsmoke

    1955 · 119 votes

  • TV7.8

    The Outer Limits

    1963 · 164 votes