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 |
---|---|
Most Rating | 3.667 |
Birthday | 1900-12-23 |
Place of Birth | Dublin, Ireland |
Also Known As | Ноэль Пёрселл, Patrick Joseph Noel Purcell, |
1960
The Millionairess
5.4/35
When her father dies, Epifania Parerga, an Italian in London, becomes the world's richest woman. She feels incomplete without a husband and falls in l...
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The Millionairess
1954
Svengali
5.9/8
A man hypnotizes a young woman into being an opera singer.
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Svengali
1962
Mutiny on the Bounty
7/296
The Bounty leaves Portsmouth in 1787. Its destination: to sail to Tahiti and load bread-fruit. Captain Bligh will do anything to get there as fast as...
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Mutiny on the Bounty
1952
The Crimson Pirate
6.967/137
Burt Lancaster plays a pirate with a taste for intrigue and acrobatics who involves himself in the goings on of a revolution in the Caribbean in the l...
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The Crimson Pirate
1956
Lust for Life
7.1/185
An intense and imaginative artist, revered Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh possesses undeniable talent, but he is plagued by mental problems and frustr...
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Lust for Life
1955
Doctor at Sea
5.3/17
The second of the seven "Doctor" films, based on Richard Gordon's novels and released between 1954 and 1970. A bachelor doctor goes to sea to escape t...
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Doctor at Sea
1971
Flight of the Doves
5.8/12
While fleeing across the Irish countryside, two orphans are pursued by their villainous uncle, a master of disguises.
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Flight of the Doves
1958
Merry Andrew
6/5
When eccentric English teacher Andrew Larabee needs a raise in order for his fiancée to marry him, his interest in archaeology leads him to an ancien...
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Merry Andrew
1967
The Violent Enemy
5.5/2
During the troubles in Ireland an IRA bomb plot is hatched to blow up a British power station. Sean Rogan (Tom Bell) is an IRA bomb expert and escapes...
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The Violent Enemy
1960
Man in the Moon
6.444/9
William is an unsuccessful guinea pig for a medical group interested in researching the common cold. He is soon fired and offered a job by the nearby...
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Man in the Moon
1960
No Kidding
6/7
A young couple, David and Catherine Robinson, has to turn their large country house into a money-making proposition. Their solution is to invite the k...
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No Kidding
1959
Ferry to Hong Kong
5.5/13
Mark Conrad, a habitual drunk and troublemaker with a shady past, is expelled by Hong Kong police after one too many bar fights. He's sent to Macao on...
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Ferry to Hong Kong
1960
Watch Your Stern
5.7/10
When the details of a secret torpedo are destroyed by an incompetent seaman, the crew of the ship rally round, when the Admiral needs the plans to sho...
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Watch Your Stern
1953
Grand National Night
8.1/5
The story of a husband's implication in his wife's death, his stupid disposal of her body and the police enquiry which almost embroils him in a murder...
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Grand National Night
1959
Tommy the Toreador
3.5/2
Tommy is a happy sailor, travelling the world, singing his favourite songs. When he visits Spain, he gets mistaken for a famous bullfighter. Tommy fin...
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Tommy the Toreador
1951
Appointment with Venus
5.1/7
At the outbreak of WWII the British realise they can't prevent the invasion of the Channel Islands. However, someone realises that a prize cow is on t...
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Appointment with Venus
1963
The Iron Maiden
6.5/6
The film follows Jack Hopkins, an aircraft designer with a passion for traction engines. His boss is eager to sell a new supersonic jet plane that Jac...
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The Iron Maiden
1954
The Seekers
5.7/5
A western set in New Zealand during the 1820s following a group of British pioneers seeking a new life Down Under.
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The Seekers
1938
Ireland's Border Line
0/0
Billy Brannigan, a mechanic, has some difficulties and problems when he gets mixed up with the police looking for a jewel thief. An identical suitcase...
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Ireland's Border Line
1958
Rockets Galore
6/5
The inhabitants of Todday are content to live their lives in peace and quiet, until, that is, the government decides their little corner of the world...
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Rockets Galore
1954
Mad About Men
6.1/16
Flirtatious mermaid Miranda swaps places with a schoolteacher who has gone on holiday. All is well until she falls in love with a human.
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Mad About Men
1962
Three Spare Wives
0/0
A man inherits a harem of three wives from his late uncle, which he brings home to his real wife in England. British comedy from 1962.
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Three Spare Wives
1952
Father's Doing Fine
6.3/3
Lady Buckering, an English widow, has four daughters; Doreen, married to Dougall and about to give birth at home, and Gerda, Bicky and Catherine. The...
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Father's Doing Fine
1957
The Rising of the Moon
6.9/20
Three vignettes of old Irish country life, based on a series of short stories. In "The Majesty of the Law," a police officer must arrest an old-fashio...
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The Rising of the Moon
1949
The Blue Lagoon
6/12
In the Victorian period, two British children survive a shipwreck in the South Pacific. After days afloat, they are marooned on a lush tropical island...
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The Blue Lagoon
1947
Captain Boycott
6.5/7
Based on real events, this historical drama is set in 19th-century Ireland, when poverty-stricken tenants dispossessed by greedy landowner Capt. Boyco...
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Captain Boycott
1959
Shake Hands with the Devil
6.5/23
In 1921 Dublin, the IRA battles the "Black & Tans," special British forces given to harsh measures. Irish-American medical student Kerry O'Shea ho...
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Shake Hands with the Devil
1969
Sinful Davey
5.5/11
A young man, convinced of his paternity, aims to emulate his notorious father by committing daring crimes. However, his childhood friend is equally de...
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Sinful Davey
1965
Lord Jim
6.753/73
After being discredited as a coward, a 19th century seaman lives for only one purpose: to redeem himself. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in pa...
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Lord Jim
1956
Jacqueline
6/3
Jacqueline is the daughter of Belfast shipyard worker Mike McNeil. The worker's worth is compromised by his crippling fear of heights. Dismissed from...
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Jacqueline
1958
The Key
6/27
In wartime England, circa 1941, poorly-armed tugs are sent into "U-Boat Alley" to rescue damaged Allied ships. An American named David Ross arrives to...
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The Key
1961
Double Bunk
5.7/6
When newly weds Jack and Peggy face eviction, they are tricked into buying a run down houseboat. After rebuilding the engine, they take their friends...
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Double Bunk
1966
Arrivederci, Baby!
5.906/16
Nick tries to kill his wife to get her money, but when learning of this, she plans the same for him!
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Arrivederci, Baby!
1951
Talk of a Million
0/0
A family reduced to imminent poverty by the father's disinclination to work; an American lawyer looking for the heir to half a million pounds; the sce...
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Talk of a Million
1963
Nurse on Wheels
5.6/12
Quietly competent young Joanna moves with her scatterbrain mother to a country village to take up her first job as District Nurse. She soon overcomes...
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Nurse on Wheels
1966
Doctor in Clover
6/12
Doctor in Clover is another 'Doctor' movie, but this time Leslie Phillips is the main doctor in the story, looking for love and romance from the hospi...
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Doctor in Clover
1963
The Running Man
6.6/40
An Englishman with a grudge against an insurance company for a disallowed claim fakes his own death and escapes to Spain, but is soon pursued by an in...
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The Running Man
1954
Doctor in the House
6.3/26
The first of the seven "Doctor" films, based on Richard Gordon's novels and released between 1954 and 1970. Simon Sparrow is a newly arrived medical...
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Doctor in the House
1957
Doctor at Large
5.6/22
Losing out to Dr. Bingham (Michael Medwin) in a competition for house surgeon when he offends a member of the board, young Dr. Simon Sparrow (Dirk Bog...
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Doctor at Large
1963
The List of Adrian Messenger
6.588/80
Adrian Messenger, a famous writer, asks his friend Anthony Gethryn, a former British agent, to help him investigate the whereabouts of the people who...
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The List of Adrian Messenger
1969
Where's Jack?
7.2/2
Based on the adventures of Jack Sheppard, the thief and jail-breaker who became a folk hero in 1720s London.
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Where's Jack?
1970
The McKenzie Break
6/26
A German U-Boat commander plans a daring escape from a PoW camp in Scotland.
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The McKenzie Break
1953
Decameron Nights
5/4
Italian poet Boccaccio (Louis Jourdan) hides in the court of Fiammetta (Joan Fontaine) and tells three tales of love and lust.
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Decameron Nights
1963
The Ceremony
5.1/9
A man has an affair with his condemned brother's girlfriend while plotting his escape in Tangier.
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The Ceremony
1961
Johnny Nobody
6.5/12
When the atheistic ranting of Irish-American author James Mulcahy upsets the inhabitants of the Irish village to which he has retired, a mob threatens...
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Johnny Nobody
1951
Encore
6.2/11
Encore is a 1951 anthology film composed of adaptations of three short stories by W. Somerset Maugham: "The Ant and the Grasshopper", directed by Pat...
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Encore
1958
Rooney
5.5/4
The life of James Ignatius Rooney, a Dublin rubbish collector during the week and a Gaelic sportsman at the weekends.
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Rooney
1952
The Pickwick Papers
6.625/12
The Pickwick Club sends Mr. Pickwick and a group of friends to travel across England and to report back on the interesting things they find...
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The Pickwick Papers
1956
Moby Dick
7.028/406
In 1841, young Ishmael signs up for service aboard the Pequod, a whaler sailing out of New Bedford. The ship is under the command of Captain Ahab, a s...
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Moby Dick
1949
Saints and Sinners
6/2
What happens to the saints and sinners of a small Irish village on the day the world is supposed to end.
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Saints and Sinners
1960
Make Mine Mink
7.1/15
In a mansion block in Knightsbridge, a gang of middle-aged biddies decide to brighten up "the dullness of the tea time of life" by staging a series of...
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Make Mine Mink
1973
The MacKintosh Man
6.1/87
A member of British Intelligence assumes a fictitious criminal identity and allows himself to be caught, imprisoned, and freed in order to infiltrate...
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The MacKintosh Man
1951
No Resting Place
0/0
The brilliant British documentary filmmaker Paul Rotha made his feature-film debut with 1950's No Resting Place. Filmed on location in Ireland, the fi...
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No Resting Place
1947
Odd Man Out
7.324/187
Belfast police conduct a door-to-door manhunt for an IRA gunman wounded in a daring robbery.
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