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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
March 8, 1924
Died
December 10, 2003
Place of Birth
Dublin, Ireland
Also Known As
- Séan Joseph McClory
- Seán McClory
- Sean McGlory
- Shawn McGlory
Sean McClory
0.5 Popularity
Biography
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.
Known For
6.1
Minister
Body Bags
1993
6.8
Mr. Grace
The Dead
1987
6.0
Sean O'Casey
Young Harry Houdini
1987
5.7
O'Brien
My Chauffeur
1986
7.5
Ross Barber
Murder, She Wrote
1984
5.9
Bring 'Em Back Alive
1982
5.5
Frank O'Neal
Falcon Crest
1981
5.5
Jammer Delany
Roller Boogie
1979
7.1
Assault 9
Battlestar Galactica
1978
0.0
Codge Collier
The New Daughters of Joshua Cabe
1976
Credits
Body Bags
as Minister
1993
6.1
The Dead
as Mr. Grace
1987
6.8
Young Harry Houdini
as Sean O'Casey
1987
6.0
My Chauffeur
as O'Brien
1986
5.7
Murder, She Wrote
as Ross Barber
1984
7.5
Bring 'Em Back Alive
1982
5.9
Falcon Crest
as Frank O'Neal
1981
5.5
Roller Boogie
as Jammer Delany
1979
5.5
Battlestar Galactica
as Assault 9
1978
7.1
The New Daughters of Joshua Cabe
as Codge Collier
1976
0.0
Kate McShane
as Pat McShane
1975
5.0
Kate McShane
as Pat McShane
1975
0.0
S.W.A.T.
1975
7.0
The Day of the Wolves
as The Sheriff
1971
6.7
Columbo
as Captain
1971
8.1
Lancer
1968
4.7
The Outcasts
1968
5.3
Bandolero!
as Robbie O'Hare
1968
6.5
The Happiest Millionaire
as Police Sgt.
1967
6.8
Mannix
1967
6.7
The High Chaparral
as Sandy McIntire
1967
6.6
The Guns of Will Sonnett
1967
6.2
The King's Pirate
as Sparkes
1967
6.5
The Gnome-Mobile
as Horatio Quaxton
1967
6.2
Follow Me, Boys!
as Edward White, Sr.
1966
6.6
Family Affair
1966
6.7
Tarzan
1966
6.7
Honey West
as Insurance Investigator Booth
1965
7.0
Lost in Space
as Hamish
1965
7.1
Cheyenne Autumn
as Dr. O'Carberry
1964
6.7
Daniel Boone
as Liam O'Hara
1964
7.0
Daniel Boone
as Bartender
1964
7.0
Daniel Boone
as Ephron Marsh
1964
7.0
🎬
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
1963
5.7
The Great Adventure
as Major Carlton
1963
0.0
The Outer Limits
as Karl Emmet
1963
7.8
The Dakotas
1963
5.7
General Electric True
1962
0.0
The Beverly Hillbillies
1962
6.9
The Virginian
as Cobb
1962
6.4
Valley of the Dragons
as Michael Denning
1961
5.5
Surfside 6
1960
5.0
The Islanders
as Quinn
1960
8.0
Checkmate
as Stamper
1960
4.1
Thriller
as Sean O'Danagh
1960
6.6
Thriller
as Patrick Galt
1960
6.6
The Swamp Fox
1959
6.7
The Detectives
1959
6.1
Adventures in Paradise
as Mike Milligan
1959
5.7
Adventures in Paradise
as Shay
1959
5.7
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
as Father Ray
1959
6.3
One Step Beyond
as Michael Barry
1959
5.6
Rawhide
as Finn
1959
7.2
The Rifleman
1958
7.1
Bronco
1958
5.9
Wanted: Dead or Alive
as 'Doc' Phillips
1958
6.8
The Californians
as Jack McGivern
1957
5.2
Perry Mason
as Fred Wenzel
1957
7.7
Perry Mason
as Harry Fothergill
1957
7.7
Perry Mason
as Hannibal Harvey
1957
7.7
Have Gun, Will Travel
1957
7.3
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
as Ted O'Malley
1957
6.2
The Guns of Fort Petticoat
as Emmett Kettle
1957
6.3
Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers
1956
5.0
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
as Graham Clague
1956
6.0
The Adventures of Jim Bowie
1956
5.0
Telephone Time
1956
6.3
Diane
as Count Michel Montgomery
1956
5.8
Matinee Theater
1955
5.0
The 20th Century Fox Hour
1955
5.4
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
as Brother Gerard
1955
7.8
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
as Irish Bar Patron
1955
7.8
Frontier
1955
5.0
Gunsmoke
as Clete Bolden
1955
6.6
Gunsmoke
as Sham
1955
6.6
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
1955
6.8
The King's Thief
as Sheldon
1955
6.3
Moonfleet
as Elzevir Block
1955
6.5
I Cover the Underworld
as Gunner O'Hara / John O'Hara
1955
6.0
The Long Gray Line
as Dinny Maher
1955
7.0
Climax!
as Mark Yorke
1954
3.3
Lassie
1954
6.1
Ring of Fear
as Dublin O'Malley
1954
5.0
Them!
as Maj. Kibbee
1954
6.8
🎬
The Child
as Reverend Smith
1954
0.0
Man in the Attic
as Constable #1
1953
5.4
Charade
as Jack Stuydevant
1953
5.5
Island in the Sky
as Frank Lovatt, Dooley's co-pilot
1953
6.3
Plunder of the Sun
as Jefferson
1953
6.1
General Electric Theater
1953
6.4
Niagara
as Sam (uncredited)
1953
6.8
Cavalcade of America
as Andrew Johnson
1952
3.5
🎬
Four Star Playhouse
as Robert Upton
1952
6.7
Les Miserables
as Bamtasbois (uncredited)
1952
5.2
The Quiet Man
as Owen Glynn
1952
7.3
Anne of the Indies
as Hackett
1951
6.3
The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel
as Jock
1951
6.7
Lorna Doone
as Charleworth Doone
1951
4.4
Storm Warning
as Shore
1951
6.6
🎬
Lux Video Theatre
as Albert
1950
6.3
The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady
as James Moore
1950
5.0
Roughshod
as Fowler
1949
5.3
Beyond Glory
as Barney
1948
7.3
Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome
as Officer Carney (uncredited)
1947
5.3
Dick Tracy's Dilemma
as Officer Dillon (uncredited)
1947
5.4