From the Potato Famine to Hollywood – How Irish Actors Won Over America

By Kathy Kovach

The 19th Century was not kind to the Irish. After suffering under British rule in their own country, they were plagued with bad crops that destroyed their staple nutrition, the potato. As a result, thousands fled their beloved homeland for America. After filtering through Ellis Island, they unfortunately found that the new country wasn’t any more hospitable than the one they had left. A fact made more volatile as the population of New York City became roughly a quarter Irish.

Many getting off the boat were emaciated, diseased, and worse yet, spoke funny. They brought their religion with them, and the Protestant versus Catholic battle continued on this side of the pond, just as it had in Ireland. “No Irish Need Apply” signs popped up faster than shamrocks, and the immigrants fought a new battle that felt hauntingly familiar to their old one.

With no more choices left, they soldiered on, carving their place in American culture. Few jobs were offered, but they took them gladly. One such career path was in the entertainment industry. Broadway offered backstage work and a smattering of menial onstage acting roles.

Eventually, Irish American actors, musicians, and others in the field made their way to Hollywood. However, the stigma was still there to some extent, even in the early 20th Century.

The Bells of St. Mary's, 1945, Ingrid Bergman and Bing Crosby

In a conscious effort to glamorize the Irish lifestyle, movies were produced depicting lovely, smiling, and often singing and dancing characters, many in stalwart yet carefree tableaus. Charismatic actors such as Pat O’Brien, known as “Hollywood’s Irishman in residence” by the press, Spencer Tracy, and Bing Crosby played amiable priests in order to destigmatize the Catholic lifestyle. Gene Kelly took us to Brigadoon, a delightful movie about an Irish village that only appears once every one hundred years. John Wayne, showing off his Northern Irish roots, let us see what customs were like in 1920s Ireland in The Quiet Man.

The Quiet Man, 1952, John Wayne

Hollywood would go on to show the seedier side of the Irish in movies such as the 2002 offering Gangs of New York, but thanks to the groundwork laid early on, Irish American no longer harbors the stigma it once had—for which the drop of Blarney in my blood is thankful.

To see the long list of actors born since the mid-1850s, check out this article on the Irish American Journey site.

Titanic: Legacy of Betrayal

A TIME-SLIP NOVEL

A secret. A key. Much was buried on the Titanic, but now it's time for resurrection.

Follow two intertwining stories a century apart. 1912 - Matriarch Olive Stanford protects a secret after boarding the Titanic that must go to her grave. 2012 - Portland real estate agent Ember Keaton-Jones receives the key that will unlock the mystery of her past... and her distrusting heart.

To buy: Amazon

Kathleen E. Kovach is a Christian romance author published traditionally through Barbour Publishing, Inc. as well as indie. Kathleen and her husband, Jim, raised two sons while living the nomadic lifestyle for over twenty years in the Air Force. Now planted in northeast Colorado, she's a grandmother and a great-grandmother—though much too young for either. Kathleen has been a longstanding member of American Christian Fiction Writers. An award-winning author, she presents spiritual truths with a giggle, proving herself as one of God's peculiar people.

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