Fitzgerald went to Hollywood to star in another O'Casey work, The Plough And The Stars, directed by John Ford. He had a successful Hollywood career in such films as The Long Voyage Home, How Green Was My Valley, And Then There Were None and The Quiet Man. He performed a feat never done in the history of the Academy Awards when he was nominated for both the Academy Award for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for the same performance, in 1944's Going My Way. He won the Supporting Actor Oscar.
Fitzgerald has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for movies at 6220 Hollywood Blvd. and for television at 7001 Hollywood Blvd.