J. Warren Kerrigan


George Jack Warren Kerrigan was an American silent film actor and film director.

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:
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 claimed in Behind the Screen 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

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. In December 1924, Kerrigan was injured in an automobile accident in Illinois. According to the Des Moines Tribune his face was badly scarred and it was stated that "he may never star in films again".

Personal life and death

Kerrigan lived with his domestic partner James Carroll Vincent from about 1914 until Kerrigan's death in 1947.

James Carroll Vincent

James Carroll Vincent was a silent movie actor. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and moved to California to be an actor where he met Kerrigan. Vincent moved into Kerrigan's home at 2307 Cahuenga Boulevard in Los Angeles, where they began a long-term relationship. He was listed at various times as Kerrigan's secretary or gardener. Not to be confused with actor James Vincent, born in 1882 and only three years younger than Kerrigan, while his partner is described as being much younger than Kerrigan; or stage manager James Vincent, born in 1900 who committed suicide in 1953 in New York City.
In 1919 Vincent, who was a "juvenile" actor with Bessie Barriscale, appeared in the cast of Out of Court, in 1920 he was in the cast of The Coast of Opportunity and in 1924 in the cast of $30,000, all three of them movies with or by Kerrigan. In 1924, Kerrigan and Vincent, along with several of their friends, were in an automobile accident in Dixon, Illinois, on the route from Sterling to Chicago. In news reports Vincent was again named as Kerrigan's secretary.
On June 9, 1947, Kerrigan died from pneumonia at the age of 67. He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
After Kerrigan's death, Vincent married Mitty Lee Turner on October 24, 1947. On March 15, 1948, Vincent committed suicide by gas in his bedroom at 14716 Magnolia Boulevard in Van Nuys, California, nine months after the death of Kerrigan. He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1913Calamity Anne's InheritanceWilliams - the Mining AgentShort
1913Calamity Anne's VanityOne of the Village Belle's SweetheartsShort
1913Calamity Anne's BeautyThe Handsome Young DrummerShort
1913Woman's HonorFather BobShort
1913Her Big StoryJoel Hammond - the Managing EditorShort
1913QuicksandsFrankShort
1913Truth in the WildernessBruce WillardShort
1913For the FlagLieutenant Jack BronsonShort
1913For the CrownJacques le GrandShort
1913Calamity Anne, HeroineMinor RoleShort
1913The Restless SpiritThe Husband - the Restless SpiritShort
1913The Girl and the GreaserDave LewisShort
1913The Tale of the TickerTom BurnsShort
1913Back to LifeDestiny's VictimShort
1913Rory o' the BogsRory o' the BogsShort
1914SamsonSamson
1915The Stool PigeonWalter JasonShort
1915For CashArthen OwenShort
1915The Oyster DredgerJack, the Oyster DredgerShort
1915The New Adventures of Terence O'RourkeTerence O'Rourke
1916Langdon's LegacyLangdon
1916The Pool of FlameTerence O'Rourke
1916The Gay Lord WaringLord Arthur Waring
1916A Son of the ImmortalsPrince Alexis Delgrade
1916The Silent BattleTom Gallatin
1916The Beckoning TrailCarter Raymond
1916The Social BuccaneerChattfield Bruce
1916The Measure of a ManJohn Fairmeadow
1917A Man's ManJohn Stuart Webster
1918The Turn of a CardJimmie Montgomery Farrell
1918One Dollar BidToby
1918A Burglar for a NightKirk Marden
1918Prisoners of the PinesHillaire Latour
1918Three X GordonHarold Gordon
1919The DriftersBurke Marston
1919Come Again SmithJoe Smith
1919The End of the GameBurke Allister
1919The Best ManCyril Gordon
1919A White Man's ChanceDonald Joseph Blenhorn
1919The Lord Loves the IrishMiles Machree
1919The Joyous LiarBurke Harlan
1920Live SparksNeil Sparks
1920The Dream CheaterBrandon McShane
1920A Man's ManJohn Stuart Webster
1920Number 99Arthur Penryn
1920The Green FlameFrank Markham
1920$30,000John Trask
1920The House of WhispersSpaulding Nelson
1920The Coast of OpportunityDick Bristow
1922Night Life in HollywoodHimselfCameo
1923The Covered WagonWill Banion
1923The Girl of the Golden WestRamerrez
1923Mary of the MoviesHimselfCameo, Uncredited
1923HollywoodHimselfCameo
1923The Man from Brodney'sHollingsworth Chase
1923Thundering DawnJack Standish
1924Captain BloodCaptain Peter Blood