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IMDbPro

Arthur Shields(1896-1970)

  • Actor
  • Additional Crew
  • Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
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Arthur Shields
Official Trailer
Play trailer2:24
South Sea Woman (1953)
5 Videos
17 Photos
Though not as well known as his nearly decade-older brother Barry Fitzgerald, Shields was a talented actor with well over twice the film roles in his career. Fitzgerald was already a well established player at the renowned Dublin Abbey Theater when Shields, also bitten by the acting bug, joined in 1914. He performed but was also out front directing plays. Already he had dabbled in the new medium of Irish film (1910) with two notable examples (1918). There was more to the seemingly mild-mannered Shields than met the eye. His family was Protestant Nationalist and he himself fought in the Easter Uprising of 1916. And he was in fact captured and imprisoned in a camp in North Wales. Late in 1918 he came to the United States and first helped bring Irish comedy and drama to Broadway. He would continue to appear on Broadway for some 24 plays until 1941, especially reviving two Abbey Theater favorites from the hand of Sean O'Casey, "The Plough and the Stars" and "Juno and the Paycock", the latter being produced and staged by him in 1940. Still not settled, Shields was back in Dublin through most of the 1920s but returned to Broadway almost full time in 1932 moving through the repertory of Irish plays. When John Ford finally convinced his brother - and some other Abbey players - to come to Hollywood to do the 1936 film version of "The Plough and the Stars", Broadway veteran Shields was asked to take the pivotal part of Padraic (Patrick) Pearse, perhaps the most important leader of the Easter Rising.

By early 1939 he was finished with his concentration on Broadway and found Ford eager to offer him a part in his Revolutionary period adventure Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) as the matter-of-fact pioneer minister with a good shooting eye Rev. Rosenkrantz. Ministers, reverends, priests, and other assorted clerics would be a Shields staple throughout his career - and he always managed to breath an individual humanity into each and every one. From then on through the 1940s he was in demand as character actor - and not just Irish roles as Fitzgerald with his gravelly, prominent brogue, found himself. Along with the aforementioned men of the cloth, Shields was provided a steady offering of the gamut of Hollywood's character storehouse-Irish and otherwise. And among them were parts for some of Ford's most memorable films: How Green Was My Valley (1941) and especially The Quiet Man (1952). Here again, he was a cleric but a uniquely sympathetic one - the lone Protestant Reverend Dr. Playfair - whom John Wayne affectionately calls "Padre" in the vastly Catholic village of the film. He alone knows the former identity of Wayne and convinces the latter of his final struggle to go on with his new life in Ireland. Enough said - with a wonderful cast of Ford stalwarts and native Irish (including Fizgerald), this was Ford's long awaited crowning achievement.

Though Shields was taking on the occasional film through the 1950s, most of his time was going to television. Along with TV playhouse roles he became a most familiar face of episodic TV with a variety of roles (even the old Mickey Mouse Club Hardy Boy Adventures), especially in the ever-popular TV Western genera. Aside from his numerous appearances in plays throughout his career, all told Arthur Shields screen appearances approached nearly 100 memorable acting endeavors.
BornFebruary 15, 1896
DiedApril 27, 1970(74)
BornFebruary 15, 1896
DiedApril 27, 1970(74)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank

Photos17

Arthur Shields and Gloria Talbott in Daughter of Dr. Jekyll (1957)
Arthur Shields in The Long Voyage Home (1940)
Arthur Shields in The Long Voyage Home (1940)
Ian Hunter and Arthur Shields in The Long Voyage Home (1940)
Arthur Franz, George Raft, and Arthur Shields in Red Light (1949)
Clark Gable and Arthur Shields in The King and Four Queens (1956)
John Drew Barrymore and Arthur Shields in Night of the Quarter Moon (1959)
Errol Flynn, Alan Hale, Jack Carson, William Frawley, and Arthur Shields in Gentleman Jim (1942)
John Wayne, George O'Brien, Arthur Shields, and Harry Woods in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
Sharon Hugueny and Arthur Shields in Maverick (1957)
Judy Garland, Douglas McPhail, Arthur Shields, and Charles Winninger in Little Nellie Kelly (1940)
Henry Fonda, Eddie Collins, Francis Ford, and Arthur Shields in Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)

Known for

Maureen O'Hara, John Wayne, Ward Bond, Barry Fitzgerald, and Victor McLaglen in The Quiet Man (1952)
The Quiet Man
7.7
  • Reverend Cyril Playfair
  • 1952
Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney in National Velvet (1944)
National Velvet
7.3
  • Mr. Hallam
  • 1944
Coleen Gray and Stephen McNally in Apache Drums (1951)
Apache Drums
6.5
  • Rev. Griffin
  • 1951
Barbara Stanwyck and Preston Foster in The Plough and the Stars (1936)
The Plough and the Stars
5.7
  • Irish Leader
  • 1936

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actor

  • The Pigeon That Took Rome (1962)
    The Pigeon That Took Rome
  • Death Valley Days (1952)
    Death Valley Days
  • Georgine Darcy and Roger Perry in Harrigan and Son (1960)
    Harrigan and Son
  • James Garner and Jack Kelly in Maverick (1957)
    Maverick
  • Walter Matthau in Play of the Week (1959)
    Play of the Week
  • Dick Powell in Zane Grey Theatre (1956)
    Zane Grey Theatre
  • Richard Basehart, Danny Bravo, and Stuart Erwin in For the Love of Mike (1960)
    For the Love of Mike
  • John McIntire in Wagon Train (1957)
    Wagon Train
  • Clint Eastwood, Paul Brinegar, and Sheb Wooley in Rawhide (1959)
    Rawhide
  • Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, and Pernell Roberts in Bonanza (1959)
    Bonanza
  • One Step Beyond (1959)
    One Step Beyond
  • Captain David Grief (1957)
    Captain David Grief
  • Henry Fonda and Gene Barry in Bat Masterson (1958)
    Bat Masterson
  • John Drew Barrymore and Julie London in Night of the Quarter Moon (1959)
    Night of the Quarter Moon
  • Dana Andrews and Jane Powell in Enchanted Island (1958)
    Enchanted Island

Additional Crew

  • Shirley Temple, Barry Fitzgerald, and Seabiscuit in The Story of Seabiscuit (1949)
    The Story of Seabiscuit
    • (uncredited)
  • Bing Crosby, Ann Blyth, and Barry Fitzgerald in Top o' the Morning (1949)
    Top o' the Morning

Second Unit or Assistant Director

  • Barbara Stanwyck and Preston Foster in The Plough and the Stars (1936)
    The Plough and the Stars

Videos5

Trailer
Trailer 2:14
Trailer
South Sea Woman
Trailer 2:24
South Sea Woman
The River (1951)
Trailer 2:35
The River (1951)
Gentleman Jim
Trailer 1:44
Gentleman Jim
Drums Along The Mohawk
Trailer 2:18
Drums Along The Mohawk

Personal details

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    • February 15, 1896
    • Dublin, Ireland
    • April 27, 1970
    • Santa Barbara, California, USA(emphysema)
    • 1943 - 1950 (her death)
    • Barry Fitzgerald(Sibling)
  • Other works
    Was a spokesperson and did many television commercials for Italian Swiss Colony Wine in the 1950s and 1960s.
  • Publicity listings
    • 3 Articles
    • 1 Pictorial

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    He was a fervent Irish nationalist and fought in the Easter Rising in 1916. He was subsequently captured and placed in the Frongoch internment camp in North Wales. 20 years later, he played Pádraig Pearse, one of the leaders of the Rising, in The Plough and the Stars (1936).

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