Jack Doyle | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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&sq=Qlik&lang=&file=File:Jack_Doyle,_circa_the_early_1930s.jpg) Doyle, c. the early 1930s | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 31 August 1913[1]
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| Died | 13 December 1978 (aged 65)[1] Paddington, London, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Joseph "Jack" Doyle[1] (31 August 1913 – 13 December 1978), known as "the Gorgeous Gael", was an Irish boxer, professional wrestler, actor, and a tenor.[2] He was born Joseph Doyle but changed his name to Jack when starting his professional career.[3] Considered a boxing prodigy in his youth, Doyle was a contender for the British Boxing Heavyweight Championship. However, his promising boxing career was destroyed by the emergence of his alcoholism, which he would continue to battle with for the rest of his life. In the early to mid-1930s he would attempt to launch both singing and acting careers, but was pulled back into the world of boxing only to be humiliated in a number of first-round knockouts. In the 1950s Doyle turned his hand to professional wrestling, playing up to his former "Gorgeous Gael" moniker with a character inspired by Gorgeous George.
By the 1950s alcoholism had completely overtaken his life and Doyle frequently found himself homeless. Doyle died from cirrhosis of the liver in 1978. Doyle's legacy is a contested one; while many 20th-century sources romanticised Doyle as a tragic hero, many 21st-century sources are highly critical of his relationships with women, which frequently featured domestic violence.
- ^ a b c Rouse, Paul (October 2009). "Doyle, Jack". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
- ^ "Jack Doyle". BFI. Archived from the original on 5 August 2018.
- ^ "JACK DOYLE: THE GORGEOUS GAEL | Irishrollcall". Archived from the original on 25 June 2010.
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