Gerry Duggan (actor)

This article is about the actor. For the writer, see Gerry Duggan (writer).
Gerry Duggan
in Goldfinger (1964)
Born
Gerald Joseph Duggan[1]

10 July 1910[2]
Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland
Died27 March 1992(1992-03-27) (aged 81)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
OccupationActor
Years active1959–1990
SpouseHelen Blood (m. 1942–1972, her death)
Children1 son

Gerald Joseph Duggan (10 July 1910 – 27 March 1992) was an Irish-born Australian character actor.[3] Although he never achieved stardom, he was a familiar face in small roles in film and television, both in Australia and Britain.[4] His trademarks were his Irish brogue, pronounced lisp and prominent jaw.

Early life

Duggan was born in Dublin in 1910. When he was 16 he moved to New York, where he had his early exposure to theatre acting. In the 1930s, he moved to Australia, where he settled, although he worked internationally.[5]

Career

He was almost 50 when he made his first film, The Siege of Pinchgut (1959), a British production made in Australia, which was the last film from Ealing Studios.[6] Duggan was nominated for the BAFTA Most Promising Newcomer Award for his role as Pat Fulton, but lost to the 13-year-old Hayley Mills in Tiger Bay.[7]

Duggan played the title role in the 1986 children's television series Professor Poopsnagle's Steam Zeppelin. He appeared in many other television series in Australia and Britain, such as A Country Practice, Mother and Son, The Flying Doctors, Skyways, The Sullivans, Matlock Police, Number 96, Spyforce, Division 4, Boney, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, The Avengers and Coronation Street.[8]

Duggan continued to act on stage in between film and television commitments. In 1964, he appeared in the British debut of Samuel Beckett's play The Old Tune. In a role he regarded as the high point of his stage career, he played the role of McLeavy in the 1966 London revival of Joe Orton's Loot, which transferred to the Criterion Theatre.[5]

Later in life, he resided in Beacon Hill, New South Wales. He worked until his death in Sydney, on 27 March 1992.[3][5]

Partial filmography

References

  1. ^ "Deaths." 31 March 1992. The Sydney Morning Herald; P. 39.
  2. ^ "Birth Registration North Dublin" (PDF). Irish Genealogy. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Gerry Duggan". BFI. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012.
  4. ^ "Gerry Duggan".
  5. ^ a b c "joeorton.org". Joe Orton Online. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  6. ^ Philip French. "The Night My Number Came Up/The Man in the Sky/The Siege of Pinchgut". The Guardian.
  7. ^ "BAFTA Awards".
  8. ^ "Gerry Duggan movies, photos, movie reviews, filmography, and biography - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  9. ^ Vagg, Stephen (7 November 2020). "Forgotten Australian TV Plays: A Tongue of Silver". Filmink.