Noel Purcell (actor)
| Noel | |
|---|---|
1999 commemorative stamp
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| Born |
Patrick Joseph Noel Purcell 23 December 1900 Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland, UK |
| Died | 3 March 1985 (aged 84) Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland, |
| Occupation | Film, television and stage actor |
| Years active | 1926–1984 |
Patrick Joseph Noel Purcell (23 December 1900 – 3 March 1985) was a distinguished Irish actor of stage, screen and television. He appeared in the 1956 film of Moby Dick.
Patrick Joseph Noel Purcell was the son of auctioneer Pierce Purcell and his second wife Catherine (née Hoban) of 4 Ashbrook Terrace, South Circular Road, Dublin. He was born on 23 December 1900 and baptised six days later at St Kevin's Church, Harrington Street Church. Within a few months, the Purcell family had moved to 12 Mercer Street Lower.
In 1911, the family was living at the same address, but the household was headed by Noel's maternal grandmother, Julia Hoban, a furniture dealer.
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.
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