John Ireland

John Ireland

John Ireland, actor (b at Vancouver 30 Jan 1914; d at Santa Barbara, Ca 21 Mar 1992). John Ireland's career featured many high spots, although his run at accumulating more than 200 on-screen credits landed him in some shabby pictures during the 1970s and 1980s. He was a professional swimmer before he turned to the stage, appearing in stock productions and on Broadway. An intense, dark-browed actor, he moved to the big screen in secondary roles as villains or thugs. His better films include John Ford's My Darling Clementine (1946), Howard Hawks's Red River (1948) and Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus (1960). He was nominated for the best supporting actor Oscar for his role as a cynical reporter in All the King's Men (1949). He starred in the British television series The Cheaters (1960-62) and had a recurring role in the popular American series Rawhide (1965-66).

During the 1970s, John Ireland worked almost exclusively in Spain and Italy, making low-budget action and horror films. In his later years, he returned to Canada to write his memoirs and star in tax-shelter era bombs such as Tomorrow Never Comes (1978) and The Incubus (1982). He made his last movie in 1992. John Ireland's other notable film appearances include A Walk in the Sun (1946), Joan of Arc (1948), I Shot Jesse James (1949), The Return of Jesse James (1950), Outlaw Territory (1953; which he co-produced and co-directed), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), Wild in the Country (1961), 55 Days at Peking (1963), The Ceremony (1963),The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), Villa Rides (1968) and Farewell, My Lovely (1975).

John Ireland made appearances in numerous television series, among them Seeing Things (1985), The Hitchhiker (1985), War of the Worlds (1988) and finally Murder, She Wrote (1991), only a year before his death.