Niall MacGinnis

Niall MacGinnis
Born	29 March 1913(1913-03-29) Dublin, Ireland
Died	6 January 1977(1977-01-06) Newport, Dyfed, Wales
Years active	1935–1978
Spouse	Sheila Macdonald, Eleonore Mac Ginnis

Niall MacGinnis (29 March 1913 – 6 January 1977) was an Irish actor who made 80 screen appearances.

Early life

MacGinnis was born in Dublin in 1913. He was educated at Stonyhurst College in England, and studied medicine at Dublin University. He qualified as a house surgeon. During World War II, MacGinnis served as surgeon in the Royal Navy.

Film career

In 1941, MacGinnis played a not-very-dedicated Nazi sailor in the British war film 49th Parallel with Laurence Olivier, Leslie Howard, Eric Portman and Raymond Massey. He portrayed Captain MacMorris in Olivier's 1944 version of Henry V and the title character in the 1953 film Martin Luther. In 1957, he played the villainous Julian Karswell opposite American actor Dana Andrews in the British horror movie Night of the Demon (released in the United States as Curse of the Demon). He also played Zeus opposite Honor Blackman's Hera in Jason and the Argonauts (1963) and had a supporting role in John Huston's film The Kremlin Letter (1969).

Once while returning to Holyhead, Wales from Ireland during the Second World War, MacGinnis was stopped by police and searched. They thought they had captured a German spy when they found a picture in his wallet showing him in a German uniform standing next to a U-boat. He was arrested. MacGinnis was not released until documents were produced that proved he had actually been acting in 49th Parallel.^{[citation needed]}

Later life

MacGinnis was a qualified physician and returned to practice during the 1970s after retiring from acting. He died of cancer in Haverfordwest, Wales in 1977, aged 63.

Partial filmography

Turn of the Tide (1935) Debt of Honour (1936) The Edge of the World (1937) The Last Adventurers (1937) 49th Parallel (1941) The Day Will Dawn (1942) We Dive at Dawn (1943) Undercover (1943) The Hundred Pound Window (1944) Tawny Pipit (1944) Henry V (1944) Captain Boycott (1947) No Room at the Inn (1948) Anna Karenina (1948) Hamlet (1948) Christopher Columbus (1949) Diamond City (1949) Chance of a Lifetime (1950) Martin Luther (1953) Knights of the Round Table (1953) Betrayed (1954) Helen of Troy (1956) Alexander the Great (1956) Lust for Life (1956) The Shiralee (1957) Night of the Demon (1957)

Behind the Mask (1958) This Other Eden (1959) The Nun's Story (1959) Shake Hands with the Devil (1959) Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (1959) Kidnapped (1960) Never Take Sweets from a Stranger (1960) A Terrible Beauty (1960) Sword of Sherwood Forest (1960) Foxhole in Cairo (1960) Billy Budd (1962) Face in the Rain (1963) Jason and the Argonauts (1963) The Truth About Spring (1964) Becket (1964) The War Lord (1965) The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) A Man Could Get Killed (1966) Island of Terror (1966) The Viking Queen (1967) Torture Garden (1967) The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968) Sinful Davey (1969) Krakatoa, East of Java (1969) The Kremlin Letter (1970) The Mackintosh Man (1973)

External links

• Niall MacGinnis at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata
Name	Macginnis, Niall
Alternative names
Short description	Actor
Date of birth	29 March 1913
Place of birth	Dublin, Ireland
Date of death	6 January 1977
Place of death	Newport, Dyfed, Wales, UK