Strong-featured veteran character actor with a gravelly voice whose career has spanned fifty years in films, TV and theater beginning with "The Ghost Ship" (1943). Tierney broke into B-movie leads with his imposing performance in the title role of "Dillinger" (1945) and played other psychotic gangster types in the cult classics "Born to Kill" and "The Devil Thumbs a Ride" (both 1947). Although he acted prominent supporting roles in occasional A-budget films including Cecil B DeMille's "The Greatest Show on Earth" (1952), most of his activity was confined to smaller-scale crime dramas and Westerns. One of his last feature leads was in the lurid but enjoyable "The Female Jungle" (1956), in which, as a tough cop, Tierney tussled with an up-and-coming Jayne Mansfield.

Usually cast as a heavy, Tierney has appeared in over 80 films, and has enjoyed a career renaissance since the mid-1980s with roles for directors including John Huston ("Prizzi's Honor" 1985), John Sayles ("City of Hope" 1991) and Quentin Tarantino ("Reservoir Dogs" 1992). Tierney's extensive TV credits include guest spots in over 100 series, ranging from "Hunter" to "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and "Seinfeld". In 1991, he fittingly acted in the TV-movie "Dillinger" but this time appeared as a sheriff. Tierney was also Casper Buttafuoco, Joey's father, in one of the three TV-movies made about the Amy Fisher case, "Casualties of Love: The 'Long Island Lolita' Story" (1993). Brother of actor Scott Brady, whom, not surprisingly, he very closely resembled.