He acquired the stage name F.J. McCormick to disguise his identity from his current and future employers, and to avoid parental disapproval.

[9] In describing their performances together, De Burca wrote "F.J McCormick and Eileen Crowe lived a life together of perfect bliss".

[14] After moving briefly to London, McCormick returned to Dublin, where he worked in the Civil Service.

[17][18][9] By May 1919, he had a leading role in an independent production at the Abbey Theatre (The Curate of St. Chad's by Constance Powell Anderson).

[19][9] An attack on Irish acting by Edward Martyn was answered by McCormick in the pages of the journal Banba in June, 1921.

"[25] The Times of London found "it is Mr. F. J. McCormick as a sly, bird-like creature, who stops just the right side of informing, who catches most surely at the imagination.

"[26] In their review of the film Hungry Hill (also 1947), The New York Times wrote, "As the butler who served John Brodrick, his sons, and their sons in turn, the late F. J. McCormick is truly magnificent, giving an even more subtle portrayal of Irish character than he did as the wily tramp in Odd Man Out.

[4][7] A year after his passing in 1948 Barry Fitzgerald said he only knew of two actors with the gift that McCormick had and they were Charles Laughton and Charlie Chaplin.

[8] It is said that he was one of the most versatile actors of his generation, his early death was a huge loss to the Irish arts and more specifically the Abbey Theatre where he carried most of his work.