Arthur Shields

Born in Portobello, Dublin into a family who were members of the Church of Ireland, Shields started acting in the Abbey Theatre when he was 17 years old. He was the younger brother of Oscar-winning actor Barry Fitzgerald. They were the sons of Adolphus Shields, who "was well-known in Dublin as a labour organiser" although the 1901 census listed his occupation as "press reader", and Fanny Sophia Shields (née Ungerland), who was German.{{cite book|last1=McEvoy|first1=Dermot|title=Irish Miscellany: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Ireland|date=2015|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.|isbn=9781632200099|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WGh4BwAAQBAJ&q=%22Arthur+Shields%22&pg=PT86|access-date=26 September 2016|language=en}}{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/wheretheylivedin00cowe|url-access=registration|quote=the son of an Irish father, Adolphus Shields, and a German mother, Fanny Ungerland..|title=Where they lived in Dublin|first=John|last=Cowell|date=11 October 1980|publisher=O'Brien Press Limited|isbn=9780905140438 |via=Internet Archive}}

Along with six others of the Abbey Players, Shields fought in the Easter Rising of 1916. He was interned for six months in the Frongoch internment camp in Frongoch, Wales.{{cite book|title= A Dictionary of Irish Biography|last=Boylan|first=Henry |year=1999|publisher=Gill and Macmillan|location= Dublin|isbn=0-7171-2945-4}} His obituary in The Times of San Mateo, California, reported, "... upon his release he was decorated by the Republic of Eire."

Shields returned to the Abbey Theatre and had a varied career there from 1914 to 1939 as actor, assistant director, director and stage manager. He appeared in many productions{{Cite web|url=http://www.abbeytheatre.ie/archives/person_detail/13635|title=The Abbey Theatre Archive}} (more than 300 roles in 350 plays).While he was there, three of the productions he appeared in were by Irish playwright Teresa Deevy: The Reapers,{{Cite web|url=http://deevy.nuim.ie/items/show/326|title=The Reapers · Teresa Deevy Archive|website=deevy.nuim.ie|access-date=7 July 2016}} Temporal Powers,{{Cite web|url=http://deevy.nuim.ie/items/show/327|title=The Teresa Deevy Archive}} and Katie Roche.{{Cite web|url=http://deevy.nuim.ie/items/show/328|title=The Teresa Deevy Archive}} Three times he brought the Abbey Company to the United States.

In 1936, John Ford brought him to the United States to act in a film version of The Plough and the Stars, and in 1939 Shields decided to live permanently in California, where the mild climate would help his tuberculosis.Irish Times obituary 28 April 1970 Some of his memorable roles were in Ford films. Shields portrayed the Reverend Playfair in Ford's The Quiet Man, opposite John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara and his brother, Barry Fitzgerald. He played Dr. Laughlin in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon with Wayne and Joanne Dru, and appeared yet again with Wayne and Barry Fitzgerald in Ford's Long Voyage Home. His other films include: Little Nellie Kelly, The Keys of the Kingdom, The Fabulous Dorseys, Gallant Journey, The Shocking Miss Pilgrim, Drums Along the Mohawk, Apache Drums, Lady Godiva, National Velvet and The River.{{Citation needed |date=October 2020}} He also made television appearances including a 1958 role on Perry Mason as Dr. George Barnes in "The Case of the Screaming Woman" as well as a 1960 episode of Maverick starring Roger Moore titled "The Bold Fenian Men."

File:Fitzgeraldhouse.jpg

Shields married Bazie Magee in 1920, and their son Adam was born in 1927. In 1943, the couple were divorced and Shields married Aideen O'Connor. Their daughter Christine was born in 1946. Aideen died in 1950. Shields' third marriage to Laurie Bailey in 1955 lasted until his death.{{cite web|url=http://archives.library.nuigalway.ie/cgi-bin/FramedList.cgi?T13|title=T13 James Hardiman Library NUI Galway|website=archives.library.nuigalway.ie|access-date=17 September 2017|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402140814/http://archives.library.nuigalway.ie/cgi-bin/FramedList.cgi?T13|url-status=dead}}

Shields died of complications related to emphysema on 27 April 1970, in Santa Barbara, California. He was survived by his wife, a daughter, a son and four grandchildren. His body was cremated, with the ashes taken to his native city of Dublin{{cite news|title=Actor Arthur Shields Dies|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6779565/the_times/|work=The Times|agency=United Press International|date=28 April 1970|location=California, San Mateo|page=2|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = 25 September 2016}} {{Open access}} and buried with military honours in Deans Grange Cemetery.{{cite news|title=Dublin Funeral For Character Actor Slated|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6780044/lubbock_avalanchejournal/|work=Lubbock Avalanche-Journal|agency=Associated Press|date=28 April 1970|location=Texas, Lubbock|page=27|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = 25 September 2016}} {{Open access}}

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• Knocknagow (1918) – Phil Lahy
• The Sign of the Cross (1932) – Chaplain Costello (1944 Re-Release Prologue) (uncredited)
• The Plough and the Stars (1936) – Irish Leader
• Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) – Reverend Rosenkrantz
• The Long Voyage Home (1940) – Donkeyman
• Little Nellie Kelly (1940) – Timothy Fogarty
• Lady Scarface (1941) – Matt Willis
• The Gay Falcon (1941) – Inspector Mike Waldeck
• How Green Was My Valley (1941) – Mr. Parry, deacon
• Confirm or Deny (1941) – Jeff, Blind Typist
• Broadway (1942) – Pete Dailey
• This Above All (1942) – Chaplain
• Pacific Rendezvous (1942) – Prof. Harvey Lessmore
• The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe (1942) – Griswald – Broadway Journal (uncredited)
• Dr. Renault's Secret (1942) – Inspector Duval (uncredited)
• Nightmare (1942) – Sergeant
• Gentleman Jim (1942) – Father Burke
• Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant (1942) – Mr. Kipp (uncredited)
• The Black Swan (1942) – The Bishop (uncredited)
• Random Harvest (1942) – Liverpool Chemist (uncredited)
• Above Suspicion (1943) – Walmer Hotel Porter (uncredited)
• The Man from Down Under (1943) – Father Polycarp
• Lassie Come Home (1943) – Andrew
• Madame Curie (1943) – Businessman (uncredited)
• The White Cliffs of Dover (1944) – Benson (uncredited)
• Youth Runs Wild (1944) – Mr. Dunlop
• National Velvet (1944) – Mr. Hallam
• The Keys of the Kingdom (1944) – Father Fitzgerald – Dean at Holywell
• Roughly Speaking (1945) – Minister (uncredited)
• The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) – Street Preacher (uncredited)
• The Corn Is Green (1945) – Glyn Thomas
• The Valley of Decision (1945) – Callahan
• Too Young to Know (1945) – Mr. Enright
• Three Strangers (1946) – Prosecutor
• Gallant Journey (1946) – Father Kenton
• The Verdict (1946) – Rev. Holbrook
• Never Say Goodbye (1946) – McCarthy (uncredited)
• The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947) – Michael
• Easy Come, Easy Go (1947) – Timothy Mike Donovan
• The Fabulous Dorseys (1947) – Mr. Dorsey
• Seven Keys to Baldpate (1947) – Prof. Bolton
• Fighting Father Dunne (1948) – Mr. Michael O'Donnell
• My Own True Love (1948) – Iverson
• Tap Roots (1948) – Reverend Kirkland
• The Fighting O'Flynn (1949) – Dooley
• She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) – Dr. O'Laughlin
• Red Light (1949) – Father Redmond
• Challenge to Lassie (1949) – Dr. Lee
• Tarzan and the Slave Girl (1950) – Dr. E.E. Campbell
• A Wonderful Life (1951) – Pastor
• Blue Blood (1951) – Tim Donovan
• Apache Drums (1951) – Rev. Griffin
• Sealed Cargo (1951) – Kevin Dolan
• The River (1951) – Mr. John
• The People Against O'Hara (1951) – Mr. O'Hara
• The Barefoot Mailman (1951) – Ben Titus
• Jack and the Beanstalk (1952) – Patrick the Harp (voice)
• The Quiet Man (1952) – Reverend Mr. Cyril Playfair
• Scandal at Scourie (1953) – Father Reilly
• South Sea Woman (1953) – 'Jimmy-legs' Donovan
• Main Street to Broadway (1953) – Actor in Fantasy Sequence
• World for Ransom (1954) – Sean O'Connor
• Pride of the Blue Grass (1954) – Wilson
• River of No Return (1954) – Minister at Tent City (uncredited)
• Lady Godiva of Coventry (1955) – Innkeeper
• The King and Four Queens (1956) – Padre
• The Daughter of Dr. Jekyll (1957) – Dr. Lomas
• Enchanted Island (1958) – James 'Jimmy' Dooley
• Night of the Quarter Moon (1959) – Captain Tom O'Sullivan
• For the Love of Mike (1960) – Father Walsh
• The Pigeon That Took Rome (1962) – Monsignor O'Toole (final film role)

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• Your Show Time – 26 episodes – The Bookshop Man (1949)
• The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure – 8 episodes – Boles (1956)
• Perry Mason – episode – The Case of the Screaming Woman – Dr. George Barnes (1958)
• Captain David Grief – episode – The Return of Blackbeard – Angus Macmor (1959)
• Bat Masterson – episode – The Conspiracy: Parts 1 & 2 – Dana Ruggles (1959)
• Maverick – episode – The Bold Fenian Men – Terence Fogarty (1960)
• Wagon Train – episode – The Amos Gibbon Story – Judge Tremayne (1960)
• Rawhide – episode – Incident of the Dust Flower – Sam Cartwright (1960)
• Bonanza – episode – The Stranger – Dennis (1960)
• Death Valley Days – episode – Loophole – Jebal McSween (1961)

• The Reapers (1930)
• Temporal Powers (1932)
• Katie Roche (1936)

{{reflist}}

{{Portal|Biography}}

{{Commons category|Arthur Shields}}

• {{IMDb name|id=0793168}}
• {{IBDB name}}
• {{Find a Grave|7901251}}
• Arthur Shields at [http://www.abbeytheatre.ie/archives/ The Abbey Theatre Archive]
• Arthur Shields at [http://deevy.nuim.ie/ The Teresa Deevy Archive]

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Category:1896 births

Category:1970 deaths

Category:20th-century Irish male actors

Category:Burials at Deans Grange Cemetery

Category:Deaths from emphysema

Category:Irish expatriate male actors in the United States

Category:Irish male film actors

Category:Irish male stage actors

Category:Irish people of German descent

Category:Irish Anglicans

Category:Members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood

Category:Male actors from Dublin (city)

Category:People of the Easter Rising

Category:People from Portobello, Dublin

Category:Protestant Irish nationalists