- 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 The Plough and the Stars (1936).
- He appeared in seven films with his elder brother Barry Fitzgerald: The Plough and the Stars (1936), The Long Voyage Home (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), Easy Come, Easy Go (1947), Top o' the Morning (1949), The Story of Seabiscuit (1949) and The Quiet Man (1952).
- Irish Protestant nationalist.
- He and his How Green Was My Valley (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.
- In his 101 screen appearances he portrayed a man of the cloth no fewer than 21 times.
- Father: Adolphus William Shields; Mother: Fanny Sophia Ungerland.
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