Kieron Moore

Kieron Moore (born Kieron O'Hanrahan) quit medical school at University college in Dublin to pursue his new-found passion: acting. Kieron made a splash in Ireland's theater scene in 1941, and made his first film appearance four years later in "The Voice Within," playing a murderous IRA agent. The role greatly increased Kieron's popularity, and when London Films came calling with a lucrative contract, he changed his last name to Moore in order to help ease his transition into stardom. Kieron worked steadily in the mid-1940s, garnering praise for scene-stealing emotionally intense performances in small roles. In 1948 he lined up what was supposed to be his big break, playing the charismatic Count Vronsky in a big-budget adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's classic novel "Anna Karenina," but critics ravaged Kieron's performance, with many claiming he was grievously miscast. Unperturbed, by 1951 Moore was able to land parts in two big Hollywood films, playing Uriah the Hittite in the biblical "David and Bathsheba," and a soldier (alongside Burt Lancaster) in "Ten Tall Men." Though Kieron kept working throughout the 1950s--and received good reviews for his part in Disney's Irish folk tale-inspired adventure " Darby O'Gill and the Little People"--Kieron's career showed signs of strain as he entered the 1960s. He spent much of the decade working in television, and quit acting entirely in the mid-70s, choosing to devoted his life to Christianity and social activism in the Third World.