Who was Barry Fitzgerald?

William Joseph Shields (10 March 1888 – 14 January 1961), known professionally as Barry Fitzgerald, was an Irish stage, film and television actor. In a career spanning almost forty years, he appeared in such notable films as "Bringing Up Baby" (1938), "The Long Voyage Home" (1940), "How Green Was My Valley" (1941), "Going My Way" (1944), "None but the Lonely Heart" (1944) and "The Quiet Man" (1952). For "Going My Way" (1944), he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and was simultaneously nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He was the older brother of Irish actor Arthur Shields. In 2020, he was listed at number 11 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors.

Fitzgerald was born William Joseph Shields in Walworth Road, Portobello, Dublin, Ireland, the son of Fanny Sophia (née Ungerland) and Adolphus Shields. His father was Irish and his mother was German. He was the older brother of Irish actor Arthur Shields.

He went to Skerry's College, Dublin, before going on to work in the civil service, starting in 1911 as a junior clerk at the Dublin Board of Trade. He later went to work for the unemployment office. "It was an easy job, full of leisure," he later said.