The Dublin actor Arthur Shields, who died on this date in 1970 at the age of 74, made three movies with John Wayne – all directed by John Ford. His older brother William starred in two of those movies too but was better known by his stage name Barry Fitzgerald and he is the only actor to be nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for the same role (in Going My Way in 1944). Arthur spent most of his life in America – though he had fought in the Easter Rising and was interned in Frongoch.
All three actors are still remembered in the west of Ireland for The Quiet Man which, if nothing else, was a great advert for the beauty of Connemara. Picture taken at the “Quiet Man” bridge – where a scene from the movie was filmed – near Oughterard in Galway. The bridge, which is signposted, gets a steady stream of visitors throughout the year – impressive for a movie released half a century ago. Unfortunately, the best spot to take a picture is from the field behind the bridge [with the mountains in the background] and that is private property. It would be good if the council could come to some arrangement with the owners so that visitors could get their postcard picture – of course, it would also help if the ESB relocated the cable that also spoils the view [and visible in the picture above].