Early life. Fitzgerald was born William Joseph Shields in Walworth Road, Portobello, Dublin, Ireland, the son of Fanny Sophia (née Ungerland) and Adolphus Shields.His father was Irish and his mother was German. He was the older brother of Irish actor Arthur Shields.. He went to Skerry’s College, Dublin, before going on to work in the civil service, starting in 1911 as a junior clerk at the …