Gerard Parkes

Gerard Parkes

Born: October 16, 1924
Died: October 19, 2014
in Dublin, Ireland
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.

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Movies for Gerard Parkes...

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day
Title: The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day
Character: Doc
Released: November 24, 2009
Type: Movie
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.
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Fraggle Rock - Dance Your Cares Away
Title: Fraggle Rock - Dance Your Cares Away
Character: Doc (as Gerry Parkes)
Released: January 4, 2005
Type: Movie
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 bizarre mystery. Which of the suspects is guilty? Would a guilty Fraggle let an innocent Fraggle take the rap?
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Fraggle Rock - Live By the Rule of the Rock
Title: Fraggle Rock - Live By the Rule of the Rock
Character: Doc
Released: January 1, 2005
Type: Movie
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, than spend the rest of her life building with the Doozers. Approx. Run Time: 170 minutes (including bonus features).
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Blessed Stranger: After Flight 111
Title: Blessed Stranger: After Flight 111
Character: Bruno Mettler
Released: October 17, 2000
Type: Movie
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.
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Deeply
Title: Deeply
Character: Uncle Peat
Released: September 11, 2000
Type: Movie
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.
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A House Divided
Title: A House Divided
Character: Judge Stevens
Released: July 30, 2000
Type: Movie
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 bigotry, Amanda has to face not only the hatred of a racist world, but the complex truth of a family whose lives have been built on a lie.
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Enslavement: The True Story of Fanny Kemble
Title: Enslavement: The True Story of Fanny Kemble
Character: Charles Kemble
Released: April 23, 2000
Type: Movie
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.
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Must Be Santa
Title: Must Be Santa
Released: December 12, 1999
Type: Movie
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.
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Title: Storm of the Century
Character: Orville Boucher
Released: February 14, 1999
Type: TV
When a blizzard hits an isolated island town it brings with it a mysterious stranger intent on terrorizing the people for a sinister purpose.
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The Boondock Saints
Title: The Boondock Saints
Character: Doc
Released: January 22, 1999
Type: Movie
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.
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Title: Noddy
Character: Wally the Wanderer
Released: August 31, 1998
Type: TV
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.
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Rescuers: Stories of Courage - Two Women
Title: Rescuers: Stories of Courage - Two Women
Character: Father Daniel (segment "Mamusha")
Released: October 5, 1997
Type: Movie
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 church to distribute underground communication pamphlets for the Resistance and ultimately ends up helping the church shelter 19 Jews.
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Mother Night
Title: Mother Night
Character: Father Patrick Keeley
Released: November 1, 1996
Type: Movie
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.
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It Takes Two
Title: It Takes Two
Character: St. Bart's Priest
Released: November 17, 1995
Type: Movie
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.
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Small Gifts
Title: Small Gifts
Character: Priest
Released: December 18, 1994
Type: Movie
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.""
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Trapped in Paradise
Title: Trapped in Paradise
Character: Father Gorenzel
Released: December 2, 1994
Type: Movie
Residents of a friendly Pennsylvania town foil three brothers' plan to rob a bank on Christmas Eve.
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The Adjuster
Title: The Adjuster
Character: Tim
Released: November 27, 1991
Type: Movie
An uptight insurance man and his film-censor wife become a kinky couple's landlords.
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Common Ground
Title: Common Ground
Character: Father Foley
Released: March 25, 1990
Type: Movie
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.
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The Last Winter
Title: The Last Winter
Released: October 12, 1989
Type: Movie
Tells the story of a young man's struggle to keep his world from changing. Placed in the rural setting of the mid 1950s.
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Speaking Parts
Title: Speaking Parts
Character: The Father
Released: September 29, 1989
Type: Movie
Hotel employee Lisa develops an obsession with her co-worker Lance, a struggling actor who has appeared in several films as an extra.
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Title: War of the Worlds
Character: Dr. Emil Gestaine
Released: October 7, 1988
Type: TV
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.
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Short Circuit 2
Title: Short Circuit 2
Character: Priest
Released: July 6, 1988
Type: Movie
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.
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A Muppet Family Christmas
Title: A Muppet Family Christmas
Character: Doc
Released: December 16, 1987
Type: Movie
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.
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Fight for Life
Title: Fight for Life
Character: Father Robert Hunt
Released: March 23, 1987
Type: Movie
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.
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Heaven On Earth
Title: Heaven On Earth
Character: Reverend Laird
Released: March 1, 1987
Type: Movie
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.
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Fraggles Look For Jobs
Title: Fraggles Look For Jobs
Character: Himself
Released: May 16, 1986
Type: Movie
Fraggle Rock wrap video taped in 1986, and screened May 16, 1986.
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Title: The Twilight Zone
Released: September 27, 1985
Type: TV
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.
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The Suicide Murders
Title: The Suicide Murders
Character: Frank Bushmill
Released: January 1, 1985
Type: Movie
The apparent suicide of a politician he was hired to follow drags private detective Benny Cooperman into a whirlwind of hard boiled double crosses and psychotherapy whose roots lie in a decades-old unsolved murder.
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The Bells of Fraggle Rock
Title: The Bells of Fraggle Rock
Character: Doc
Released: December 24, 1984
Type: Movie
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 Bell when the Rock was small. Meanwhile, Doc and Sprocket explore mid-winter holiday traditions from around the world.
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Draw!
Title: Draw!
Character: Circuit Judge Fawcett
Released: June 15, 1984
Type: Movie
In the final days of the Old West, a former desperado faces down a now drunken ex-sheriff, who was his long time nemesis.
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Spasms
Title: Spasms
Character: Capt. Novack
Released: October 28, 1983
Type: Movie
A gigantic serpent is captured on a remote island and shipped to an American college for experimentation.
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Title: Fraggle Rock
Character: Doc
Released: January 10, 1983
Type: TV
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.
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Yesterday
Title: Yesterday
Character: Professor Saunders
Released: January 24, 1981
Type: Movie
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.
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An American Christmas Carol
Title: An American Christmas Carol
Character: Jessup
Released: December 16, 1979
Type: Movie
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, amiable man.
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Second Wind
Title: Second Wind
Character: Packard
Released: April 8, 1976
Type: Movie
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.
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Title: The National Dream
Character: Edward Blake
Released: March 3, 1974
Type: TV
A combination of documentary and dramatic reconstructions, depicting the conception and construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the late 19th century.
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Running Time
Title: Running Time
Character: The Old Lady's Son
Released: January 1, 1974
Type: Movie
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.
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The Pyx
Title: The Pyx
Released: September 8, 1973
Type: Movie
A detective investigating the death of a heroin-addicted prostitute uncovers evidence pointing to the existence of a murderous devil cult.
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The Apprentice
Title: The Apprentice
Character: Professor
Released: September 10, 1971
Type: Movie
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. Soon he's sleeping with her, and he pulls a theft with Dock to get money to take her to Acapulco. Michelle tries to bring him back to her orbit. Is there a way out for Jean-Pierre?
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The First Time
Title: The First Time
Character: Charles
Released: June 11, 1969
Type: Movie
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 Niagara Falls. His lie quickly backfires.
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A Great Big Thing
Title: A Great Big Thing
Character: Appie
Released: June 23, 1968
Type: Movie
A 23-year-old Canadian wanders aimlessly throughout his wasted life.
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Isabel
Title: Isabel
Character: Uncle Matthew
Released: May 22, 1968
Type: Movie
A woman believes she is beginning to lose her mind when she begins seeing ghosts and spirits.
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David Thompson: The Great Mapmaker
Title: David Thompson: The Great Mapmaker
Character: Duncan McGillivray
Released: January 1, 1964
Type: Movie
This short film recreates the story of David Thompson – a man who, over the course of his lifetime, mapped a-million-and-a-half square miles of uncharted territory. His achievement remains unsurpassed.