He was cast mostly as Irishmen, particularly by John Ford, but he was actually British, his ancestry being mainly Scot.
In 1932, while still a British citizen, McLaglen captained a band called the Hollywood Light Horse, described as "a military organization formed to promote Americanism and combat Communism and radicalism subversive to Constitutional government." For the most part, McLaglen and his troopers marched around in their specially tailored military uniforms to their favorite restaurants and bars. When that bid for social attention began to wane, Hollywood Light Horse members began drifting over to a parallel organization known as the Hollywood Hussars. The more serious purpose of the Hussars was to invade the Soviet Republic of Georgia to secure drilling rights for an American oil millionaire who was bankrolling their enterprise. At one point, McLaglen was a member along with George Brent, the sheriff of Los Angeles County and the city police chief. Gary Cooper was described as one of the sponsors, but that assertion was withdrawn following protests by Cooper's representatives. In any event the Hussars never got to invade Georgia - their most conspicuous public outing was a march one afternoon down to the Los Angeles newspaper offices of William Randolph Hearst, where they serenaded the publisher from the sidewalk in a group song, in gratitude for his anti-Communi
In spite of being a powerful hulk his whole life (his huge shoulders making even John Wayne's look small), he was sixty-four and in declining health by the time he was in The Quiet Man (1952). Even prickly John Ford had to be sensitive to McLaglen's condition while shooting that movie's grueling fight sequence.
Interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California, USA.
Under the pseudonym Paul Romano, McLaglen boxed future heavyweight champion Jess Willard in a four-round exhibition match in Springfield, Missouri, on 26 September 1911.
Was nearly fifty before he became a bankable actor in films like The Lost Patrol (1934) and The Informer (1935).
When he was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for The Quiet Man (1952), he became the first male actor to be nominated for a supporting role after having already won an Oscar for a leading role, having won the Best Actor Oscar for The Informer (1935) seventeen years earlier. The first performer to do this was Jennifer Jones, who won the Best Actress Oscar for The Song of Bernadette (1943) and was a Supporting Actress nominee for Since You Went Away (1944).
Younger brother of boxer Fred McLaglen, aka Fred McKay (lifetime boxing record 6-11-2)