Shay Duffin (26 February 1931 – 23 April 2010; age 79) was the Irish actor and playwright who played Ned Quint in the Star Trek: The Next Generation seventh season episode "Sub Rosa". He was born in Dublin, Ireland. He died from complications related to heart surgery at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. He was 79 years old. [1]
Duffin regularly portrayed barkeep types, including the pubkeeper in Titanic (1997) and the brasserie bartender in The Departed (2006). He was perhaps best known for his role as Dan O'Grady in Leprechaun (1993). Duffin was also known for his one-man plays, including The Importance of Being Irish in the early 1990s (which he also wrote) and Confessions of an Irish Rebel in 2006.
Career[]
Television[]
Duffin made his television debut in the NBC movie Law and Order, which was directed by Marvin Chomsky. Terri Garr, and James Whitmore, Jr. also had roles in this movie. Later that year, Duffin appeared in an episode of the CBS television series Switch, along with Richard Lynch and George Murdock.
He appeared in several more TV movies in the 1970s. He had a supporting role in 1978's The Other Side of Hell, which also featured Richard Riehle and Morgan Woodward. This movie was co-written by Robert Hamner and its music was composed by Leonard Rosenman. Duffin also played Rabbi Bartholomew in 1979's Mary and Joseph: A Story of Faith, which co-starred Stephen McHattie. Duffin's other TV movies during the 1970s included The Amazing Howard Hughes (with Barry Atwater, Ray Buktenica, and Garry Walberg), Captains Courageous (with Jeff Corey, Charles Dierkop, Ricardo Montalban, and Fritz Weaver), and Marciano (with Barbara Baldavin, Richard Carlyle, Richard Herd, and Michael Pataki).
In addition to The Next Generation, Duffin appeared on such TV programs as Dynasty (with Lee Bergere), Cagney & Lacey (1987, with Stanley Kamel and Don Stark), and Murder, She Wrote (1992, with George Hearn, Dakin Matthews, and Richard Riehle). He also had a role in J. Edgar Hoover (1997, with Walker Edmiston, Louise Fletcher, Robert Harper, Paul Kent, John McLiam, David Ogden Stiers, and Harvey Vernon.
Duffin was a regular cast member on City. Fellow Next Generation guest star Stephen Lee was also a regular on this series. Duffin later had a recurring role on another CBS series from Haggis, Due South, in 1995.
Films[]
Duffin's first feature film was The White Buffalo (1977, with Ed Lauter). Duffin was then one of the many Star Trek alumni to appear in Butch and Sundance: The Early Days (1979, co-starring Peter Brocco, Jeff Corey, Christopher Lloyd, John Schuck, Vincent Schiavelli, Peter Weller, and Noble Willingham. That same year, Duffin was seen in The Main Event (with Earl Boen and James Gregory) and The Frisco Kid (with Clyde Kusatsu, Vincent Schiavelli, and Ian Wolfe). Duffin was also seen in the 1978 short film Mother, Juggs & Speed with Jan Shutan.
Duffin played a ring announcer in Raging Bull (1980, with McKenzie Westmore). That film's director, Martin Scorsese, later cast Duffin as the brasserie bartender in 2006's The Departed. The latter film's cast also included Mark Rolston. Duffin's only other film credits in the 1980s were The Baltimore Bullet (1980, starring James Coburn, featuring Ed Bakey) and 10 to Midnight (1983).
In 1992, Duffin had roles in the films Memoirs of an Invisible Man (with Sam Anderson, Rosalind Chao, Ellen Albertini Dow, Aaron Lustig, and Michael McKean), Newsies (with Gabriel Damon and Kevin Tighe), and The Public Eye (with Ian Abercrombie, Bob Gunton, Richard Riehle, and Nick Tate). In 1993's Leprechaun, Duffin plays Don O'Grady, the character who locks the title character away and steals his bag of gold coins at the beginning of the film. The film's cast also included Mark Holton and Ken Olandt.
Six years after appearing as the pubkeeper in Titanic, Duffin had a supporting role in the 2003 drama Seabiscuit. Both of these films co-starred Michael Ensign. Titanic featured Greg Ellis, Victor Garber, Tricia O'Neil, and David Warner, as well, while David Doty, Ed Lauter, and Michael Buchman Silver were also seen in Seabiscuit. Duffin's last film was 2007's Beowulf, which also co-starred Greg Ellis and Star Trek: Enterprise regular Dominic Keating.
External links[]
- ShayDuffin.net – official site
- Shay Duffin at Wikipedia
- Shay Duffin at the Internet Movie Database