Though not as well known as his nearly decade-older brother 

Barry Fitzgerald,
Shields was a talented actor with well over twice the film roles in his career.
Fitzgerald was already a well established player at the renowned Dublin Abbey
Theater when Shields, also bitten by the acting bug, joined in 1914. He performed
but was also out front directing plays. Already he had dabbled in the new medium
of Irish film (1910) with two notable examples (1918). There was more to the
seemingly mild-mannered Shields than met the eye. His family was Protestant
Nationalist and he himself fought in the Easter Uprising of 1916. And he was in fact
captured and imprisoned in a camp in North Wales. Late in 1918 he came to the
United States and first helped bring Irish comedy and drama to Broadway. He
would continue to appear on Broadway for some 24 plays until 1941, especially
reviving two Abbey Theater favorites from the hand of Sean O'Casey, "The Plough
and the Stars" and "Juno and the Paycock", the latter being produced and staged
by him in 1940. Still not settled, Shields was back in Dublin through most of the
1920s but returned to Broadway almost full time in 1932 moving through the
repertory of Irish plays. When John Ford finally convinced his brother - and some
other Abbey players - to come to Hollywood to do the 1936 film version of "The
Plough and the Stars", Broadway veteran Shields was asked to take the pivotal part
of Padraic (Patrick) Pearse, perhaps the most important leader of the Easter Rising.

By early 1939 he was finished with his concentration on Broadway and found Ford
eager to offer him a part in his Revolutionary period adventure Corazones
indomables (1939) as the matter-of-fact pioneer minister with a good shooting eye
Rev. Rosenkrantz. Ministers, reverends, priests, and other assorted clerics would be
a Shields staple throughout his career - and he always managed to breath an
individual humanity into each and every one. From then on through the 1940s he
was in demand as character actor - and not just Irish roles as Fitzgerald with his
gravelly, prominent brogue, found himself. Along with the aforementioned men of
the cloth, Shields was provided a steady offering of the gamut of Hollywood's
character storehouse-Irish and otherwise. And among them were parts for some of
Ford's most memorable films: ¡Qué verde era mi valle! (1941) and especially El
hombre tranquilo (1952). Here again, he was a cleric but a uniquely sympathetic
one - the lone Protestant Reverend Dr. Playfair - whom John Wayne affectionately
calls "Padre" in the vastly Catholic village of the film. He alone knows the former
identity of Wayne and convinces the latter of his final struggle to go on with his new
life in Ireland. Enough said - with a wonderful cast of Ford stalwarts and native
Irish (including Fizgerald), this was Ford's long awaited crowning achievement.

Though Shields was taking on the occasional film through the 1950s, most of his
time was going to television. Along with TV playhouse roles he became a most
familiar face of episodic TV with a variety of roles (even the old Mickey Mouse Club
Hardy Boy Adventures), especially in the ever-popular TV Western genera. Aside
from his numerous appearances in plays throughout his career, all told Arthur
Shields screen appearances approached nearly 100 memorable acting endeavors.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: William McPeak

Family (2)

Spouse Una Mary O'Connor (1943 - 1950)  (her death)

 Bazie Magee (1920 - 1943)  (her death)
Laurie Bailey (actress) (? - 27 April 1970)  (his death)  (2 children)

Relatives Barry Fitzgerald (sibling)

Trivia (6)
Irish Protestant nationalist.
He was a fervent Irish nationalist and fought in the Easter Rising in 1916. He was
subsequently captured and placed in the Frongoch internment camp in North Wales.
20 years later, he played Pádraig Pearse, one of the leaders of the Rising, in La osa
mayor y las estrellas (1936).
He appeared in seven films with his elder brother Barry Fitzgerald: La osa mayor y
las estrellas (1936), Hombres intrépidos (1940), ¡Qué verde era mi
valle! (1941), Easy Come, Easy Go (1947), Top o' the Morning (1949), A rienda
suelta (1949) and El hombre tranquilo (1952).
He and his ¡Qué verde era mi valle! (1941), Confirm or Deny (1941)
and Gentleman Jim (1942) co-star John Loder fought on opposite sides of the
Easter Rising of 1916: Shields fought with the Irish republicans while Loder was a
second lieutenant in the British Army. Furthermore, Loder was the son of General
William Lowe, the British officer to whom Pádraig Pearse surrendered on April 29,
1916.
Father: Adolphus William Shields; Mother: Fanny Sophia Ungerland.
In his 101 screen appearances he portr