J. T. Walsh
Birth Name: James Thomas Patrick Walsh
Date of Birth: September 28, 1943
Place of Birth: San Francisco, California, United States
Date of Death: February 27, 1998
Place of Death: La Mesa, California, U.S.
Ethnicity: Irish
J. T. Walsh was an American actor. Known as a prominent character actor, his roles include the films The Beniker Gang, Hard Choices, Power (1986), Hannah and Her Sisters, Tin Men, House of Games, Good Morning, Vietnam; Things Change, Tequila Sunrise, Wired, The Big Picture, Dad (1989), Crazy People, Why Me?, The Grifters, Narrow Margin, Misery, The Russia House, Backdraft, True Identity, Iron Maze, A Few Good Men, Hoffa (1992), Sniper, National Lampoon’s Loaded Weapon 1, Red Rock West, Stephen King’s Needful Things, Morning Glory (1993), Blue Chips, The Client, The Last Seduction, Silent Fall, Miracle on 34th Street (1994), Outbreak, The Low Life, The Babysitter, Black Day Blue Night, Charlie’s Ghost Story, Nixon (1995), Executive Decision, Sling Blade, Breakdown (1997), The Negotiator, and Pleasantville; the series The Edge of Night, Windmills of the Gods, and Dark Skies; and the made-for-tv movies Right to Kill?, Crime of the Century, Gang in Blue, and Hope (1997).
J. T. was the son of Mary Louise (O’Connor), from Rhode Island, and James Patrick Walsh, from North Dakota. He was raised partly in West Germany, and attended schooling in Ireland, Germany, and Rhode Island. He had one child with his former wife Susan West.
J. T.’s paternal grandfather was named James Walsh (the son of James Walsh and Bridget). J. T.’s grandfather James was Irish.
J. T.’s paternal grandmother was named Agnes Ryan. Agnes was born in Indiana, to an Irish father.
J. T.’s maternal grandfather was William Henry O’Connor (the son of Timothy O’Connor and Elizabeth Kidd). William was born in Rhode Island, to Irish parents.
J. T.’s maternal grandmother was Mary Loretta McKenna (the daughter of Peter McKenna and Alice Coyle). Mary was born in Rhode Island.
Sources: J. T.’s father on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
J. T.’s mother on the 1910 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
J. T.’s mother on the 1920 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
I think his paternal grandparents were Edward Thomas Walsh and Hester Kershner.
It looks like that couple didn’t have children. The census for J. T.’s father calls him his father’s stepson, so the original family name must have been something other than Walsh.
I couldn’t find his father on an earlier census, and that couple was born in England and Indiana and lived in SD, like his parents, and was of right age, that’s why I thought it might be them.
Oh, stupid me, James Walsh was the grandfather, James MURPHY was the step-grandfather on that census. The names are so similar… James Walsh died around 1906, and later Agnes re-married.