Noel Purcell

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.

Known For: Acting

Born: Dublin, Ireland, 1900-12-23

Died: 1985-03-03

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1938	Ireland's Border Line	Garda Sergeant Hogan	0
2	1947	Odd Man Out	Tram Conductor (uncredited)	73
3	1947	Captain Boycott	Daniel McGinty	67
4	1949	The Blue Lagoon	Paddy Button	60
5	1949	Saints and Sinners	Flaherty	60
6	1951	No Resting Place	Guard Mannigan	0
7	1951	Talk of a Million	Matty McGrath	0
8	1951	Encore	Tom, Captain	62
9	1951	Appointment with Venus	Trawler Langley	51
10	1952	Father's Doing Fine	Shaughnessy	63
11	1952	The Crimson Pirate	Pablo Murphy	70
12	1952	The Pickwick Papers	Roker	67
13	1953	Decameron Nights	Father Francisco	50
14	1953	Grand National Night	Philip Balfour	81
15	1954	Doctor in the House	Padre (uncredited)	65
16	1954	The Seekers	Paddy Clarke	57
17	1954	Svengali	Patrick O'Farrell	59
18	1954	Mad About Men	Percy	61
19	1955	Doctor at Sea	Corbie	54
20	1956	Jacqueline	Mr. Owen, the Parson	60
21	1956	Moby Dick	Ship's Carpenter	71
22	1956	Lust for Life	Anton Mauve	72
23	1957	Doctor at Large	Padre	56
24	1957	The Rising of the Moon	Dan O'Flaherty (segment 'The Majesty of the Law')	69
25	1958	Merry Andrew	Matthew Larabee	60
26	1958	Rooney	Tim Hennessy	55
27	1958	The Key	Hotel Clerk	60
28	1958	Rockets Galore	Father James	60
29	1959	Shake Hands with the Devil	Liam O'Sullivan	65
30	1959	Ferry to Hong Kong	Joe Skinner	55
31	1959	Tommy the Toreador	Captain	35
32	1960	Make Mine Mink	Burglar	71
33	1960	Watch Your Stern	Adm. Sir Humphrey Pettigrew	56
34	1960	The Millionairess	Professor Merton	54
35	1960	Man in the Moon	Prosecutor	64
36	1960	No Kidding	Tandy	56
37	1961	Double Bunk	O'Malley	57
38	1961	Johnny Nobody	Brother Timothy	65
39	1962	Three Spare Wives	Sir Hubert	0
40	1962	Mutiny on the Bounty	Seaman William McCoy	70
41	1963	Nurse on Wheels	Abel Worthy	58
42	1963	The List of Adrian Messenger	Countryman (uncredited)	66
43	1963	The Iron Maiden	Admiral Sir Digby Trevelyan	64
44	1963	The Running Man	Miles Bleeker	67
45	1963	The Ceremony	Finigan	51
46	1965	Lord Jim	Captain Chester	68
47	1966	Doctor in Clover	O'Malley	55
48	1966	Arrivederci, Baby!	Capt. Daniel O'Flannery	59
49	1967	The Violent Enemy	John Michael Leary	55
50	1969	Sinful Davey	Jock	55
51	1969	Where's Jack?	Leatherchest	72
52	1970	The McKenzie Break	Ferry Captain	61
53	1971	Flight of the Doves	Rabbi	58
54	1973	The MacKintosh Man	O'Donovan	60

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1956	The Buccaneers	Pat	55
2	1961	The Avengers	Jonah Barnard	77
3	1962	The Saint	Brendan Cullin	73
4	1962	The Saint	Mike Kelly	73
5	1970	Never Say Die		0
6	1971	The Onedin Line	Hennessy	68
7	1983	The Irish R.M.		52

Noel Purcell

Film

Television