J. Warren Kerrigan

J. Warren Kerrigan
Born	George Jack Warren Kerrigan (1879-07-28)July 28, 1879 Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
Died	June 9, 1947(1947-06-09) (aged 67) Balboa Beach, California, U.S.
Other names	Jack Kerrigan
Occupation(s)	Actor, director
Years active	1910–1924
Partner	James Vincent (c.1914–1947; his death)

George Jack Warren Kerrigan (July 25, 1879 – June 9, 1947) was an American silent film actor and film director.

Early life and career

Born in New Albany, Indiana, Kerrigan worked as a warehouse clerk in his teens until a chance arrived to appear in a vaudeville production. He continued to act in traveling stock productions, though he took a brief time away from the stage to attend the University of Illinois.

By the time he was 30 years old, he had begun to make appearances in films for Essanay Studios. A contract with the American Film Corporation opened the door to leading roles, often as a modern man of the age. He starred in over 300 films up to 1924.

Controversy

In May 1917, Kerrigan was nearing the end of a four-month-long personal appearance publicity tour that had taken him across the United States and into Canada. At one of the final stops, a reporter for The Denver Times asked Kerrigan if he would be joining the war. Kerrigan replied:

I am not going to war. I will go, of course, if my country needs me, but I think that first they should take the great mass of men who aren't good for anything else, or are only good for the lower grades of work. Actors, musicians, great writers, artists of every kind—isn't it a pity when people are sacrificed who are capable of such things—of adding to the beauty of the world.

Picked up and reprinted in newspapers across the country, this statement stunned his fans and his popularity plummeted, never to fully recover. Family members later reported in Behind the Screen (2001) by William J. Mann that his slump in popularity was more due to his living with his mother and partner James Vincent in the same house, and not having a business manager to overcome the negative publicity.

Revival

However, when director James Cruze cast him as the rugged lead in The Covered Wagon (1923), Kerrigan found himself back on top, although fleetingly. In the spring of 1924, after John Barrymore bowed out, Kerrigan was assigned the starring role in Captain Blood. While the film was a moderate success, critics were unmoved and Kerrigan found himself working less and less and in smaller roles.

Personal life and death

Kerrigan was homosexual. He never married, and lived with his lover James Vincent from about 1914 to Kerrigan's death in 1947.

On June 9, 1947, Kerrigan died from pneumonia at the age of 67. He is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

Selected filmography

A Man's Man (1917)

J. Warren Kerrigan in The Drifters, 1919 lobby card.

Year	Film	Role
1913	Calamity Anne's Inheritance	The Agent
	Calamity Anne's Vanity
	Calamity Anne's Beauty
	Woman's Honor
	Her Big Story
	Quicksands
	Truth in the Wilderness
	For the Flag
	For the Crown
	Calamity Anne, Heroine
	The Restless Spirit
	The Girl and the Greaser
	The Tale of the Ticker
	Back to Life	Destiny's Victim
	Rory o' the Bogs	Rory o' the Bogs
1914	Samson
1915	The Stool Pigeon	Walter Jason
	For Cash	Arthen Owen
	The Oyster Dredger	Jack, the Oyster Dredger
1919	Come Again Smith	Joe Smith
1923	The Covered Wagon	Will Banion
	The Girl of the Golden West	Ramerrez
	Mary of the Movies	Himself (cameo)
	Hollywood	Himself (cameo)
1924	Captain Blood	Captain Peter Blood

External links

• J. Warren Kerrigan at IMDb
• J. Warren Kerrigan at Find a Grave
• J. Warren Kerrigan at Virtual History
• Early portrait of Kerrigan