Trivia

Shortly after completing his role in El exorcista (1973), he died in New York (he was appearing as Fluther in "The Plough and the Stars" with Siobhan McKenna at the time).

Appeared in four films which were nominated for the Best Picture: El hombre quieto (1952), Tom Jones, hombre de audacia (1963), Doctor Zhivago (1965), and El exorcista (1973). Of those, only Tom Jones, hombre de audacia (1963) won the category.

Born in Dublin, Jack MacGowran worked as an insurance assessor for eight years before becoming an actor with the Abbey Theatre. He made his film debut in John Ford's El hombre quieto (1952). He was also a noted stage actor specializing in works by Sean O'Casey and Samuel Beckett. He appeared in "Waiting For Godot" at the Royal Court Theatre London, and with the Royal Shakespeare Company in "Endgame" at the Aldwych Theatre. He released an LP record, "MacGowran Speaks Beckett", to coincide with Samuel Beckett's 60th birthday. While Jack MacGowran was making La danza de los vampiros (1967), Roman Polanski and Gérard Brach, wrote the original story for Wonderwall (1968), especially for MacGowran to play the part of Professor Collins.

Won the 1970-1971 Obie for Best Performance By an Actor in the off-Broadway play "Beckett".

He was awarded the 1972 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Distinguished Performance for the play, "The Works of Beckett," at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

Father of Tara MacGowran.

Born on exactly the same date as Robert Walker of "Strangers On a Train" fame.

Biography is "The Beckett Actor: Jack MacGowran, Beginning to End" by Jordan R. Young (Moonstone Press, 1987) ISBN 978-0940410824.