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IMDbPro

Sean McClory(1924-2003)

  • Actor
  • Director
  • Soundtrack
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Sean McClory
A free-spirited young woman (Deborah Foreman) upsets the status quo at a stuffy Brentwood limousine service.
Play trailer1:36
My Chauffeur (1986)
2 Videos
12 Photos
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 with 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.

In 1953 McClory played one of his standout roles as menacing, shady archaeologist Jefferson in Plunder of the Sun (1953), a good adventure thriller helped along by location shooting in Mexico. McClory, with a white-tinted crewcut and dark glasses (very effective), had the opportunity to reveal the depth of his talent and really stole the picture from star Glenn Ford, who couldn't get away from his usual mumbling delivery.

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.
BornMarch 8, 1924
DiedDecember 10, 2003(79)
BornMarch 8, 1924
DiedDecember 10, 2003(79)
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Photos12

Sean McClory in My Favorite Martian (1963)
Maureen O'Hara, John Wayne, Barry Fitzgerald, Charles B. Fitzsimons, and Sean McClory in The Quiet Man (1952)
John Wayne, Hal Baylor, Wally Cassell, Gordon Jones, Jimmy Lydon, and Sean McClory in Island in the Sky (1953)
Gloria Grahame, Myrna Dell, Martha Hyer, John Ireland, Sean McClory, Steve Savage, Robert Sterling, and Robert B. Williams in Roughshod (1949)
Gloria Grahame, Martha Hyer, John Ireland, Sean McClory, Steve Savage, Robert Sterling, and Robert B. Williams in Roughshod (1949)
Boris Karloff, Ralph Byrd, Anne Gwynne, and Sean McClory in Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947)
Roger Moore, Lana Turner, Sean McClory, and Marisa Pavan in Diane (1956)
Boris Karloff, Ralph Byrd, Anne Gwynne, and Sean McClory in Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947)
Myrna Dell, John Ireland, Sean McClory, Steve Savage, and Robert B. Williams in Roughshod (1949)
Maureen O'Hara, John Wayne, Ward Bond, Barry Fitzgerald, Sean McClory, and Victor McLaglen in The Quiet Man (1952)
Boris Karloff, Ralph Byrd, Anne Gwynne, and Sean McClory in Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947)

Known for

Maureen O'Hara, John Wayne, Ward Bond, Barry Fitzgerald, and Victor McLaglen in The Quiet Man (1952)
The Quiet Man
7.7
  • Owen Glynn(as Sean McGlory)
  • 1952
Them! (1954)
Them!
7.2
  • Maj. Kibbee
  • 1954
Richard Coogan in The Californians (1957)
The Californians
7.2
TV Series
  • Jack McGivern
Valley of the Dragons (1961)
Valley of the Dragons
4.9
  • Michael Denning
  • 1961

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actor

  • Body Bags (1993)
    Body Bags
  • Anjelica Huston and Donal McCann in The Dead (1987)
    The Dead
    • (as Seán McClory)
  • The Magical World of Disney (1954)
    The Magical World of Disney
  • Angela Lansbury in Murder, She Wrote (1984)
    Murder, She Wrote
  • My Chauffeur (1986)
    My Chauffeur
  • Falcon Crest (1981)
    Falcon Crest
  • Gerald McRaney and Jameson Parker in Simon & Simon (1981)
    Simon & Simon
    • (as Seán McClory)
  • Ricardo Montalban and Hervé Villechaize in Fantasy Island (1977)
    Fantasy Island
  • Bring 'Em Back Alive (1982)
    Bring 'Em Back Alive
  • Dorian Harewood, Michael Goodwin, Trisha Noble, Richard Romanus, and Robert Stack in Strike Force (1981)
    Strike Force
  • Pernell Roberts in Trapper John, M.D. (1979)
    Trapper John, M.D.
  • Maurice Benard, Ingo Rademacher, Julie Berman, Steve Burton, Tyler Christopher, Nancy Lee Grahn, Rebecca Herbst, Kelly Monaco, Kirsten Storms, Laura Wright, Dominic Zamprogna, and Chad Duell in General Hospital (1963)
    General Hospital
    • (uncredited)
  • Linda Blair and Jim Bray in Roller Boogie (1979)
    Roller Boogie
  • Noah Hathaway, Lorne Greene, Dirk Benedict, Richard Hatch, and Laurette Spang in Battlestar Galactica (1978)
    Battlestar Galactica
  • Columbo (1971)
    Columbo
    • (as Seán McClory)

Director

  • Richard Coogan in The Californians (1957)
    The Californians

Soundtrack

  • James Drury, Doug McClure, and John McIntire in The Virginian (1962)
    The Virginian

Videos2

Trailer
Trailer 1:36
Trailer
Bandolero!
Trailer 2:53
Bandolero!

Personal details

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    • March 8, 1924
    • Dublin, Ireland
    • December 10, 2003
    • Hollywood Hills, California, USA(heart condition)
    • Peggy WebberMarch 17, 1983 - December 10, 2003 (his death)

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    Spent early life in Galway, Ireland. He was a member of Dublin's The Abbey Players, and was "discovered" by director John Ford and cast in his Ireland-filmed The Quiet Man (1952).
    • The Californians
      (1957)
      $450 /week

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