Sean McClory
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.
Photos
Films (41)
Body Bags
1993 · Minister
The Dead
1987 · Mr. Grace
Young Harry Houdini
1987 · Sean O'Casey
My Chauffeur
1986 · O'Brien
Roller Boogie
1979 · Jammer Delany
The New Daughters of Joshua Cabe
1976 · Codge Collier
Kate McShane
1975 · Pat McShane
The Day of the Wolves
1971 · The Sheriff
Bandolero!
1968 · Robbie O'Hare
The Happiest Millionaire
1967 · Police Sergeant
The King's Pirate
1967 · Sparkes
The Gnome-Mobile
1967 · Horatio Quaxton
Follow Me, Boys!
1966 · Edward White, Sr.
Cheyenne Autumn
1964 · Dr. O'Carberry
Valley of the Dragons
1961 · Michael Denning
The Guns of Fort Petticoat
1957 · Emmett Kettle
Diane
1956 · Count Michel Montgomery
The King's Thief
1955 · Sheldon
Moonfleet
1955 · Elzevir Block
I Cover the Underworld
1955 · Gunner O'Hara / John O'Hara
The Long Gray Line
1955 · Dinny Maher
Ring of Fear
1954 · Dublin O'Malley
Them!
1954 · Maj. Kibbee
The Child
1954 · Reverend Smith
Man in the Attic
1953 · Constable #1
Charade
1953 · Jack Stuydevant
Island in the Sky
1953 · Frank Lovatt, Dooley's co-pilot
Plunder of the Sun
1953 · Jefferson
Niagara
1953 · Sam (uncredited)
What Price Glory
1952 · Lt. Austin (uncredited)
Les Miserables
1952 · Bamtasbois (uncredited)
The Quiet Man
1952 · Owen Glynn
Anne of the Indies
1951 · Hackett
The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel
1951 · Jock
Lorna Doone
1951 · Charleworth Doone
Storm Warning
1951 · Shore
The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady
1950 · James Moore
Roughshod
1949 · Fowler
Beyond Glory
1948 · Barney
Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome
1947 · Officer Carney (uncredited)
Dick Tracy's Dilemma
1947 · Officer Dillon (uncredited)
Séries (59)
Murder, She Wrote
1984 · Ross Barber
Bring 'Em Back Alive
1982
Falcon Crest
1981 · Frank O'Neal
Battlestar Galactica
1978 · Assault 9
Kate McShane
1975 · Pat McShane
S.W.A.T.
1975
Columbo
1971 · Captain
Lancer
1968 · Coley McHugh
The Outcasts
1968
Mannix
1967
The High Chaparral
1967 · Sandy McIntire
The Guns of Will Sonnett
1967
Family Affair
1966
Tarzan
1966
Honey West
1965 · Insurance Investigator Booth
Convoy
1965 · Major Perth-Whittaker
Lost in Space
1965 · Hamish
Daniel Boone
1964 · Liam O'Hara, Ephron Marsh, Bartender
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
1963
The Great Adventure
1963 · Major Carlton
The Outer Limits
1963 · Karl Emmet
The Dakotas
1963
General Electric True
1962
The Beverly Hillbillies
1962
The Virginian
1962 · Cobb
Surfside 6
1960
The Islanders
1960 · Quinn
Checkmate
1960 · Stamper
Thriller
1960 · Sean O'Danagh, Patrick Galt
The Swamp Fox
1959
The Detectives
1959
Adventures in Paradise
1959 · Mike Milligan, Shay
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
1959 · Father Ray
Bonanza
1959 · Mark Connors
One Step Beyond
1959 · Michael Barry
Rawhide
1959 · Finn
The Rifleman
1958
Bronco
1958
Wanted: Dead or Alive
1958 · 'Doc' Phillips
The Californians
1957 · Jack McGivern
Perry Mason
1957 · Fred Wenzel, Harry Fothergill, Hannibal Harvey
Have Gun, Will Travel
1957
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
1957 · Ted O'Malley
Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers
1956
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
1956 · Graham Clague
The Adventures of Jim Bowie
1956
Telephone Time
1956
Matinee Theater
1955
The 20th Century Fox Hour
1955
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
1955 · Brother Gerard, Irish Bar Patron
Frontier
1955
Gunsmoke
1955 · Clete Bolden, Sham
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
1955
Climax!
1954 · Mark Yorke
Lassie
1954
General Electric Theater
1953
Cavalcade of America
1952 · Andrew Johnson
Four Star Playhouse
1952 · Robert Upton
Lux Video Theatre
1950 · Albert