Patrick Joseph Noel Purcell (23 December 1900 – 3 March 1985) was a distinguished Irish actor on stage, screen, and television. He appeared in the 1956 film Moby Dick and the 1962 film Mutiny on the Bounty.
Patrick Joseph Noel Purcell (23 December 1900 – 3 March 1985) was a distinguished Irish actor on stage, screen, and television. He appeared in the 1956 film Moby Dick and the 1962 film Mutiny on the Bounty.
Patrick Joseph Noel Purcell was the son of Dublin auctioneer Pierce Purcell and his second wife Catherine (née Hoban), an antique dealer. He was born at 11a, Lower Mercer Street, one of two houses owned by his mother's family.
Purcell was educated at Synge Street CBS. He lost the tip of his right index finger while making cigarette vending machines, and was also missing his entire left index finger due to a different accident while he was an apprentice carpenter, a feature which he exploited for dramatic effect in the film Mutiny on the Bounty (1962).
Purcell began his show business career at the age of 12 in Dublin's Gaiety Theatre. Later, he toured Ireland in a vaudeville act with Jimmy O'Dea. Stage-trained in the classics in Dublin, Purcell moved into films in 1934. He appeared in Captain Boycott (1947) and as the elderly sailor whose death marooned the lovers-to-be in the first sound film version of The Blue Lagoon (1949). He played a member of Captain Ahab's crew in Moby Dick (1956), Dan O'Flaherty in episode one, The Majesty of the Law, of The Rising of the Moon (1957), a gamekeeper in The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), and a barman in The Mackintosh Man (1973); the last two films were directed by John Huston. In 1955, he was an off-and-on regular on the British filmed TV series The Buccaneers (released to American TV in 1956). He narrated a Hibernian documentary, Seven Wonders of Ireland (1959). In 1962, he portrayed the lusty William McCoy in Lewis Milestone's Mutiny on the Bounty. He played a taciturn Irish in-law to Lebanese American entertainer Danny Thomas's character Danny Williams in a 1963 episode of The Danny Thomas Show. In 1971, he played the caring rabbi in the children's musical drama Flight of the Doves. He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1958 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the BBC Television Theatre. Purcell also gained some recognition as a singer. Shortly after the Second World War, songwriter Leo Maguire composed "The Dublin Saunter" for him. He performed the song live for many years and later recorded it for the Glenside label. However, the recording was not a hit. As Purcell recalled many years later, "I don't think one person in the world bought it." However, over time it became one of the most favorite songs about Dublin, receiving countless air plays on radio programs. In his later years, Purcell was asked by RTÉ journalist Colm Connolly whether he had received many royalties down the years. Purcell replied: "Not a penny. I recorded it as a favor for a pal, Leo Maguire, who'd written it. No contract or anything, so I never got a fee or any payments."
In 1981 (on YouTube it's 1974) he recorded a spoken word version of Pete St. John's "Dublin in the Rare Old Times".
In June 1984, Purcell was given the Freedom of the City of Dublin. Nine months later, he died in his native city at the age of 84.
On 7 July 1941, Purcell married former child actress Eileen Marmion. They had four sons.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0700740
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q200840
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Filmography (Movies)
The MacKintosh Man
Character:O'Donovan
Release Date:01/08/1973
Flight of the Doves
Character:Rabbi
Release Date:02/04/1971
The McKenzie Break
Character:Ferry Captain
Release Date:28/10/1970
Where's Jack?
Character:Leatherchest
Release Date:01/04/1969
Sinful Davey
Character:Jock
Release Date:10/02/1969
The Violent Enemy
Character:John Michael Leary
Release Date:01/05/1967
Arrivederci, Baby!
Character:Capt. Daniel O'Flannery
Release Date:28/12/1966
Doctor in Clover
Character:O'Malley
Release Date:08/03/1966
Lord Jim
Character:Captain Chester
Release Date:15/02/1965
The Ceremony
Character:Finigan
Release Date:18/12/1963
The Running Man
Character:Miles Bleeker
Release Date:01/10/1963
The Iron Maiden
Character:Admiral Sir Digby Trevelyan
Release Date:07/06/1963
The List of Adrian Messenger
Character:Countryman (uncredited)
Release Date:23/05/1963
Nurse on Wheels
Character:Abel Worthy
Release Date:03/01/1963
Mutiny on the Bounty
Character:Seaman William McCoy
Release Date:08/11/1962
Three Spare Wives
Character:Sir Hubert
Release Date:01/01/1962
Johnny Nobody
Character:Brother Timothy
Release Date:01/10/1961
Double Bunk
Character:O'Malley
Release Date:06/05/1961
No Kidding
Character:Tandy
Release Date:01/11/1960
Man in the Moon
Character:Prosecutor
Release Date:31/10/1960
The Millionairess
Character:Professor Merton
Release Date:18/10/1960
Watch Your Stern
Character:Adm. Sir Humphrey Pettigrew
Release Date:14/10/1960
Make Mine Mink
Character:Burglar
Release Date:09/08/1960
A Terrible Beauty
Character:Father Sheehy (uncredited)
Release Date:17/06/1960
Tommy the Toreador
Character:Captain
Release Date:21/12/1959
Ferry to Hong Kong
Character:Joe Skinner
Release Date:29/10/1959
Shake Hands with the Devil
Character:Liam O'Sullivan
Release Date:24/06/1959
Rockets Galore
Character:Father James
Release Date:19/10/1958
The Key
Character:Hotel Clerk
Release Date:28/05/1958
Rooney
Character:Tim Hennessy
Release Date:24/03/1958
Merry Andrew
Character:Matthew Larabee
Release Date:20/03/1958
The Rising of the Moon
Character:Dan O'Flaherty (segment 'The Majesty of the Law')
Release Date:10/08/1957
Doctor at Large
Character:Padre
Release Date:26/03/1957
Lust for Life
Character:Anton Mauve
Release Date:15/09/1956
Moby Dick
Character:Ship's Carpenter
Release Date:27/06/1956
Jacqueline
Character:Mr. Owen, the Parson
Release Date:04/06/1956
Doctor at Sea
Character:Corble
Release Date:12/07/1955
Mad About Men
Character:Percy
Release Date:16/11/1954
Svengali
Character:Patrick O'Farrell
Release Date:01/09/1954
The Seekers
Character:Paddy Clarke
Release Date:22/06/1954
Doctor in the House
Character:Padre (uncredited)
Release Date:23/03/1954
Grand National Night
Character:Philip Balfour
Release Date:15/04/1953
Decameron Nights
Character:Father Francisco
Release Date:13/01/1953
The Pickwick Papers
Character:Roker
Release Date:14/11/1952
The Crimson Pirate
Character:Pablo Murphy
Release Date:27/09/1952
Father's Doing Fine
Character:Shaughnessy
Release Date:15/08/1952
Appointment with Venus
Character:Trawler Langley
Release Date:08/10/1951
Encore
Character:Tom, Captain
Release Date:11/06/1951
Talk of a Million
Character:Matty McGrath
Release Date:12/03/1951
No Resting Place
Character:Guard Mannigan
Release Date:12/01/1951
Saints and Sinners
Character:Flaherty
Release Date:15/08/1949
The Blue Lagoon
Character:Paddy Button
Release Date:01/03/1949
Captain Boycott
Character:Daniel McGinty
Release Date:26/08/1947
Odd Man Out
Character:Tram Conductor (uncredited)
Release Date:30/01/1947
Ireland's Border Line
Character:Garda Sergeant Hogan
Release Date:28/04/1938
Television Appearances
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