Gerard Parkes
Birthday: Born in 1924-10-16 in Dublin, Ireland
Deathday: 2014-10-19
Gerard "Gerry" Parkes was an Irish-born Canadian actor. He was born in Dublin, and moved to Toronto in 1956. He is best known for playing "Doc" on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation television series Fraggle Rock and the bartender in the film The Boondock Saints and its sequel The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. His acting career spanned film, radio, television, and the stage. Parkes worked often on CBC radio, beginning in 1959, and shifted into television and film, acting in such diverse series as the 1960s' ecological adventure series The Forest Rangers, children's show The Littlest Hobo, and the detective series Cagney and Lacey. In 1968, Parkes won the first Canadian film award (then called the Etrog and now known as the Gemini) for his portrayal of Uncle Matthew in the movie Isabel. He received the Andrew Allan Award in 1983 for Best Radio Actor, and in 1999, he won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Performance in a Featured Role for Kilt. In 1996, he portrayed Jonathan Swift in the HBO Original Film Handel's Last Chance. In 1998, he appeared on an episode of PBS's Noddy, as Wally the Wanderer in "Noah's Leaving". He appeared with Willem Dafoe and Billy Connolly in The Boondock Saints (playing a Tourette's syndrome-afflicted bartender, also named "Doc"). He reprised the role for The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. He appeared in The Adjuster (1991), premiering at the New York Film Festival. In 1991, it won the Special Silver St. George at the 17th Moscow International Film Festival. In 1993, the Toronto International Film Festival ranked the film 10th in the Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time. This page is based on a Wikipedia article written by contributors. Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
TV Credits
The National Dream
Character: Edward Blake
A combination of documentary and dramatic reconstructions, depicting the conception and construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the late 19th century....
War of the Worlds
Character: Dr. Emil Gestaine
Humanity must resume its war against the Martians when they revive after decades of hibernation following their defeat in the 1950s. The fate of Earth may very well rest in the hands of a small yet courageous band: astrophysicist Harrison Blackwood, paraplegic computer wizard Norton Drake, microbiologist Suzanne McCullough and military man Paul Ironhorse....
The Twilight Zone
Character: Monsignor Perrault
This 1980s revival of the classic sci-fi series features a similar style to the original anthology series. Each episode tells a tale (sometimes two or three) rooted in horror or suspense, often with a surprising twist at the end. Episodes usually feature elements of drama and comedy....
Fraggle Rock
Character: Doc
The Fraggles are a fun-loving community of creatures who live in a subterranean fantasy land where they love to play, sing and dance their cares away, sharing their world with the tiny Doozers and the giant Gorgs. The series teaches empathy and tolerance and encourages children to understand people different from themselves....
Storm of the Century
Character: Orville Boucher
When a blizzard hits an isolated island town it brings with it a mysterious stranger intent on terrorizing the people for a sinister purpose....
Noddy
Character: Wally the Wanderer
After years of sailing the sea, Noah Tomten, a retired sea captain, owns an antique toy store called Notions Oddities Doodads and Delights of Yesterday, a variety of toys, from a weasel living inside of a jack in the box to a dog pretending to be a superhero, along with his pet lobster. Two of his grandkids, Kate and Truman, as well as Kate's friend DJ, come to visit him from time to time....
Cagney & Lacey
Character: Captain Wells
Mary Beth Lacey and Chris Cagney are teamed up as NYPD police detectives. Their opposing personalities (one is tough and the other sensitive) mesh to make this one of the great crime-fighting duos of all time....
Movie Credits
Small Gifts
Character: Priest
Nora and Evan are a young married couple who find their finances are in serious trouble as Christmas draws near in this new take on O. Henry's classic story ""The Gift of the Magi.""...
The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day
Character: Doc
Skillfully framed by an unknown enemy for the murder of a priest, wanted vigilante MacManus brothers Murphy and Connor must come out of hiding on a sheep farm in Ireland to fight for justice in Boston....
It Takes Two
Character: St. Bart's Priest
Identical 9-year-olds from very different backgrounds: orphaned Amanda and wealthy Alyssa meet at summer camp and decide to switch places -- and play matchmaker between Alyssa's dad, Roger, and the kind social worker who cares for Amanda....
Draw!
Character: Circuit Judge Fawcett
In the final days of the Old West, a former desperado faces down a now drunken ex-sheriff, who was his long time nemesis....
Trapped in Paradise
Character: Father Gorenzel
Residents of a friendly Pennsylvania town foil three brothers' plan to rob a bank on Christmas Eve....
Enslavement: The True Story of Fanny Kemble
Character: Charles Kemble
Fanny Kemble is a famous star of the English stage, but while touring the United States, she gives up her career to marry wealthy American Pierce Butler. Moving with him from Philadelphia to his Georgia plantation, Fanny sees slavery firsthand, and her outrage leads her to help the family's slaves in open defiance of her spouse. Undaunted by the consequences, Fanny eventually writes a book that strengthens the anti-slavery movement....
Running Time
Character: The Old Lady's Son
This feature film is an exotic romp through the ’60s in song and dance. A fantasy that pokes fun not only at some hallowed institutions but at itself as well....
The Pyx
Character:
A detective investigating the death of a heroin-addicted prostitute uncovers evidence pointing to the existence of a murderous devil cult....
Fraggle Rock - Dance Your Cares Away
Character: Doc (as Gerry Parkes)
Boober Gorg: After being hit on the head by a radish, Boober thinks he's a Gorg! Determined to protect Gorgs' radishes, he joins forces with the giants to capture he Fraggle friends. Blanket of Snow, Blanket of Woe: When Mokey forgets to cover Marjory the Trash Heap before the first snowfall, Marjory freezes solid! With help from Boober and the Gorgs, Mokey keeps her promise to make things right. Inspector Red: Who stole the ancient fragglehorn? Red plays detective so solve the strange and bizar...
Fraggle Rock - Live by the Rule of the Rock
Character: Doc
Catch a Tail by the Tiger: Gobo has not received his usual postcard from his Uncle Traveling Matt. He eventually comes to realize that he must venture out into outer space to look for him – a trip that would terrify and Fraggle. Believe It or Not: Red and Wembley discover a creature who is whatever you believe hi is. The trouble starts when Ma Gorg believes him into being a monster in the basement of the castle. All Work and All Play: Cotterpin Doozer decides she’d rather be a Fraggle, like Red,...
Fight for Life
Character: Father Robert Hunt
Jerry Lewis plays an Ohio optometrist who has a six-year old daughter with epilepsy. He fights to get the FDA to approve a drug (at that time only available in England) for use in the U.S....
Speaking Parts
Character: The Father
Hotel employee Lisa develops an obsession with her co-worker Lance, a struggling actor who has appeared in several films as an extra....
Short Circuit 2
Character: Priest
Robot Johnny 5 moves to the city to help his friend Ben Jahrvi with his toy manufacturing enterprise, only to be manipulated by criminals who want to use him for their own nefarious purposes....
Common Ground
Character: Father Foley
Fact based story about the racial tensions that occurred in Boston in the 1970's because of court ordered busing to end desegregation. The story focuses on an African-American mother determined to get her children a quality education and a white lawyer trying to deal with inner city problems....
Mother Night
Character: Father Patrick Keeley
An American spy behind the lines during WWII serves as a Nazi propagandist, a role he cannot escape in his future life as he can never reveal his real role in the war....
Rescuers: Stories of Courage - Two Women
Character: Father Daniel (segment "Mamusha")
First in a series of anthology films dealing with Christians who put their lives on the line to help rescue Jews from the Holocaust. In the first of two short films, "Mamusha," as the Nazis invade her country, a Polish Catholic housekeeper takes under her wing the youngster in the Jewish family for whom she is employed, and shepherds him through WWII in hopes of ultimately getting him repatriated to Palestine. In "Woman on a Bicycle," an unmarried French woman is pressed into service by the ch...
An American Christmas Carol
Character: Jessup
In Depression-era New England, a miserly businessman named Benedict Slade receives a long-overdue attitude adjustment one Christmas Eve when he is visited by three ghostly figures who resemble three of the people whose possessions Slade had seized to collect on unpaid loans. Assuming the roles of the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future from Charles Dickens' classic story, the three apparitions force Slade to face the consequences of his skinflint ways, and he becomes a caring, generous...
Spasms
Character: Captain Novack
A gigantic serpent is captured on a remote island and shipped to an American college for experimentation....
Heaven On Earth
Character: Reverend Laird
An armful of destitute orphans transported to the New World at the turn of the century. This is the turbulent and moving story of four British 'bricks for Empire building' - based on the memoirs of some of the 100,000 'home children' who helped build the new Canada....
The Last Winter
Character:
Tells the story of a young man's struggle to keep his world from changing. Placed in the rural setting of the mid 1950s....
A Muppet Family Christmas
Character: Doc
Fozzie Bear surprises his mother on Christmas Eve by bringing the entire Muppet gang to her farm to celebrate the holidays. Doc and his dog Sprocket, who had planned a quiet Christmas, end up joining the Muppets in their holiday activities and preparations. The Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock regulars join the festivities, but to Kermit's dismay, the only one missing is Miss Piggy, who has been caught in a snowstorm....
The Adjuster
Character: Tim
An uptight insurance man and his film-censor wife become a kinky couple's landlords....
Second Wind
Character: Packard
A successful executive and family man takes up jogging for a hobby. Soon his desire to excel as a long distance runner interferes with his career and marriage....
A House Divided
Character: Judge Stevens
In the aftermath of the terrible Civil War which has devastated the South, Amanda America Dixon returns home to find she has become the sole heir to a vast cotton plantation. But the dreadful secret which has blighted her life threatens to deprive her of the birthright which her beloved father David had struggled for so long to create. Raised by her father and grandmother to be the perfect white Southern Belle, Amanda's true mother was a black slave Julia. Confronted with the forces of greed and...
Bethune
Character: Dr. MacCacken
Based on the true story of Canadian doctor Norman Bethune, this film traces his life from his beginnings with his deeply religious family in Ontario, through his medical studies in school, where he developed his overwhelming compassion for those less fortunate, and his driving desire to see that they get the medical attention they need. Most of his life after college was spent either working in war zones around Europe or developing new treatment techniques in his home country....
Isabel
Character: Uncle Matthew
A woman believes she is beginning to lose her mind when she begins seeing ghosts and spirits....
The Apprentice
Character: Professor
In Montréal, Jean-Pierre is fired on the set of a TV commercial where he's an apprentice technician. He's penniless, behind on his rent, with a thin resume and no college units. He has a fiancée, Michelle, but his head is turned by a free-spirited model, from the U.S., who saw him being fired and comes to his flat to apologize. She's Elizabeth, a combination of feckless innocence and sexual freedom. Jean-Pierre borrows money from his outlaw friend, Dock, and buys clothes to impress Elizabeth. So...
The First Time
Character: Charles
With the coming of summer, three high school buddies--Kenny Leeds, Mike Decker, and Tommy Kingsley--anticipate their initiation into the pleasures of manhood. But Kenny is separated from his friends and sent to stay with his grandparents in Buffalo while his father, a widowed salesman, leaves on a business trip with his secretary-fiancée. Bored and alone in a strange city, Kenny writes his two friends letters about his adventures at "Rosie's," a fictitious brothel across the Canadian border in N...
Yesterday
Character: Professor Saunders
A young American hockey player, studying in Canada on a hockey scholarship, falls in love while risking his scholarship and the prospect of the Vietnam war draft....
The Bells of Fraggle Rock
Character: Doc
Gobo thinks the Fraggles' own Solstice holiday, the Festival of the Bells, is a big waste of time. Despite Cantus' warnings, Gobo goes on a journey to find out if the mythical Great Bell at the heart of Fraggle Rock is real. When the Rock slows down in the winter, the Fraggles hold the Festival of the Bells to make sure it keeps moving. As part of the celebration, they ring bells to awaken the Great Bell at the heart of the Rock. They also dress up as a Weebabeast, who used to guard the Great Be...
Blessed Stranger: After Flight 111
Character: Bruno Mettler
A sensitive and realistic portrayal of the families' grief after the devastating crash of Swissair flight 111, in which all 229 passengers and crew were killed. A woman whose daughter was among the victims meets a fisherman in Nova Scotia who took part in the recovery mission....
The Boondock Saints
Character: Doc
Tired of the crime overrunning the streets of Boston, Irish Catholic twin brothers Conner and Murphy are inspired by their faith to cleanse their hometown of evil with their own brand of zealous vigilante justice. As they hunt down and kill one notorious gangster after another, they become controversial folk heroes in the community. But Paul Smecker, an eccentric FBI agent, is fast closing in on their blood-soaked trail....
Deeply
Character: Uncle Peat
On Ironbound Island, native Fiona McKay arrives from Europe with her teenage daughter Clair, hoping that the peace of the island will help the girl get over the death of her boyfriend. The girl finds comfort in the company of a visiting American girl and more so in the stories of Celia, a crazy old local who weaves enchanting tales which cleverly combine her own experiences on the island with mystifying legends....
Must Be Santa
Character:
When the reigning Santa is no longer fit for duty his helpers must search for a replacement. This leads to a wacky, exhausting hunt and doesn't turn up exactly what Santa's angels hoped for. To make matters worse still, "Santy" winds up being just this side of totally undesirable....
Fraggles Look For Jobs
Character: Himself
Fraggle Rock wrap video taped in 1986, and screened May 16, 1986....
O MATADOR (The Gunrunner)
Character:
1926. The Chinese Civil War. Drifter Ted Beaubien is captured and forced to witness his girlfriend's execution. He finally escapes and vows to avenge her death by taking on a deadly mission to buy guns abroad and smuggle them back. Arriving in his hometown, Ted is shocked to find his elderly mother and younger brother George are penniless. But time is running out, and before he can help them, he's got to get the guns. In setting up the deal, Ted meets and falls for the seductive nightclub owner ...