 Born in
Dublin Ireland on May 28th
1970, Glenn Quinn moved along
with his mother and two sisters
to Long Beach California in 1988.
He was certainly proud of his
Irish heritage – he had
‘Erin Go Bragh (Ireland
Forever) tattooed on his right
shoulder and a Harp on his left.
Following a series of odd jobs
Glen decided to try his hand at
acting and met with success quite
promptly. His first role was
playing a pool shark in the
Richard Marx video
‘Satisfied’. His first
film was ‘Shout’
(1991) with John Travolta -- in
which Glenn had the honor of
giving teen-ingénue Gwyneth
Paltrow her first on-screen kiss!
However,
his big break was being cast as
Mark Healy on ‘Roseanne’.
For the role he worked with a
speech and dialogue coach to get
rid of his brogue. What was
initially meant to be a single
appearance turned into a
seven-year stint on the hit
series – 1990-97. From there
he worked tirelessly, at one
point even working on a second
series ‘Covington
Cross’ (as Cedric)
simultaneously with ‘Roseanne’,
which meant commuting between
England and LA!
Other
projects quickly followed. He was
George (‘West Side
Story’) Chakiris in
the Patty Duke TV-movie bio
‘Call Me Anna’.
He supported Faye Dunaway with
his role as Darren Lauder in the
thriller ‘Silhouette’.
The Irish hunk also costarred in
the 1992 horror flick ‘Dr
Giggles’ (“The
Doctor is out…of his
mind!”) as Max Anderson. If
you haven’t seen it this one
is written and directed by Manny
Coto and is about the son of a
mass murderer who (yup!) escapes
from a mental institution and
comes seeking vengeance! He was
also in the 1997 horror
“chillergy” ‘Campfire
Tales’ with
Christine Taylor (Marcia Brady
and Mrs. Ben Stiller) and Amy
Smart. Additional roles include
guesting on the series ‘Jesse’,
‘Baghdad Café’,
and ‘Beverly Hills
90210’ as well as
movies such as ‘Live
Nude Girls’, ‘Some
Girl’, ‘At
Any Cost’, and his
final film, the ‘Ten
Little Indians’
like (and Sundance acclaimed)
‘R.S.V.P.’
in 2002. He was also a part owner
of ‘Goldfingers’,
a 007 themed bar in a seedier
section of LA.
Many
horror/sci-fi fans are familiar
with Glenn Quinn for his showy
role as Allen Francis Doyle (half
human and half demon) who is sent
to guide Angel (David Boreanaz)
to his destiny in the WB series
‘Angel’
(1999). Producers killed him off
after just a few episodes saying
it was “part of the original
plan”. However, there were
rumors that Quinn lost the role
as a result of his increasing
problems with drugs and alcohol.
Those problems would eventually
claim his life.
On
December 3, 2002 Glenn Martin
Christopher Francis Quinn died of
a heroin addiction (morphine
intoxication due to lethal heroin
injection) on a friend’s
(Dwayne) couch in a North
Hollywood apartment. He’d
been staying with friends and
living a sort of transient
lifestyle for a while at the time
of his passing. As a result of
drug habit he had lost his home,
he had lost the bar – after
he’d even stooped to asking
patrons for money, and had even
been kicked out of a recovery
rehab in Malibu, Wavelengths, for
using drugs on the premises. A
syringe and a packet of heroin
were found in his pocket. The Los
Angeles coroner ruled it an
accidental overdose. The
coroner’s statement showed
.32 ml of morphine in his blood.
At the time of his death the
32-year-old smoker, drinker, and
drug abuser had extensive spleen,
liver, lung and heart damage.
On
December 6th he was
given a traditional Irish wake at
The Luyben Mortuary in Lakewood,
CA. Services were held at Saint
Cornelius Church in Long Beach.
Among those in attendance
were ‘Roseanne’ cast
mates Sara Gilbert and Johnny
Galecki. Michael Fishman (DJ on
‘Roseanne’)
collected donations to help cover
funeral costs. Glenn Quinn was
buried at Forest Lawn in Orange
County. The actor is survived by
his parents (Bernadette and
Murty) and his sisters (Sonya and
Louisa).
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