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Tom Duffy

1929 – 2022

Irish ringmaster and circus performer

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About Tom Duffy

Lived 1929 – 2022 (aged 92).

Thomas Duffy (5 April 1929 – 15 March 2022) was an Irish circus performer and ringmaster of Tom Duffy's Circus.

Career Duffy's circus career began at the age of five. He developed a double trapeze act with his brother Arthur and became known as "the Boy with the Iron Jaw" because of his ability to hold his brother from a leather strap placed between his teeth and 40 feet up in the air. Duffy was also a highly accomplished performer in the arena on horseback — in one act appearing as the Lone Ranger while riding a horse named Silver. Following the death of his parents, he ran the family circus with his six brothers. In 1979 Duffy created Tom Duffy's Circus.

Personal life and death Duffy suffered a series of health issues in his final years. He survived cancer twice, as well as three heart attacks which occurred in the weeks after he overcame the first of two bouts of COVID-19.

Duffy died on 15 March 2022, at the age of 92.

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Important facts

Birth century
Also known as
Thomas Duffy

People in Tom Duffy's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Tom Duffy's

Frequently asked questions

Who was Tom Duffy?

Irish ringmaster and circus performer

When was Tom Duffy born?

Tom Duffy was born on 5 April 1929 in County Londonderry, Limavady, Northern Ireland.

When did Tom Duffy die?

Tom Duffy died on 15 March 2022 in Navan.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Tom Duffy

· Wikidata: Q111915803

· DBpedia: Tom Duffy (ringmaster)

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Tom Duffy. https://biography.guide/tom-duffy-tom-duffy-ringmaster-personfunction-1/

MLA: "Tom Duffy." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/tom-duffy-tom-duffy-ringmaster-personfunction-1/.

Chicago: "Tom Duffy." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/tom-duffy-tom-duffy-ringmaster-personfunction-1/.

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