Theatre, Film and TV

Harris, Richard St John (1930–2002), stage and screen actor, was born 1 October 1930 in Limerick city, fifth child among six sons and two daughters of Ivan Harris, a prosperous flour‐mill owner, and Mildred Harris (née Harty). Reared in a comfortable, middle‐class home at Overdale,…

Hart, Josephine (1942–2011), writer, theatrical producer and poetry promoter, was born on 1 March 1942 in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, the eldest of five children of Dermot Hart and his wife Sheila (née Donoghue). Her father had been a commercial traveller and a lorry driver, until…

Havard, William (1710–78), actor and playwright, was born 12 July 1710 in Dublin, the son of a vintner; nothing more is known of his parents. After receiving a good education (evidenced by his later writings), he was apprenticed to a surgeon but soon abandoned that profession in…

Hawthorne, Denys Vernon (1932–2009), actor, was born 9 August 1932 in Portadown, Co. Armagh, the only child of (Robert) Victor Hawthorne, who owned a factory making handkerchiefs, and his wife Anne (née Cooke). He attended Portadown College, where several of the teachers, especially the…

Healy, Augustine (Gus) Anthony (1904–87), politician, drama and sports enthusiast, was born 20 May 1904 in Castle Road, Blackrock, Cork, the second of two sons of Timothy Healy, collector for the Cork Gas Company, from Cork, and his wife, Pauline Groegor from Germany. A fall from…

Healy, James Nagle (1916–93), actor and producer, was born 3 August 1916 in Curragh Road, Turner's Cross, Cork city, second child of James Nagle Healy, clerk, and Anne Nagle (née Desmond). His mother died when he was 8 months old, and he and his sister were brought up by their…

Healy, (William) Gerard (1918–63), actor and playwright, was born 17 August 1918 in the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, son of Bartle Healy, fruit merchant, and Mary Healy (née Hayden). Educated at Synge St. CBS, he was first employed as a…

Hickey, Kieran (1936–93), film producer and director, was born 29 February 1936 at Holles St. maternity hospital, Dublin, eldest son of Thomas Hickey, locomotive engineer, of 41 Dufferin Ave., South Circular Rd, Dublin, and Kathleen Hickey (née O'Keeffe). He had an elder brother,…

Hill, Dick (1938–2010), television administrator and producer, was born Warnford Matthew De Courcy Hill in Cork city on 23 August 1938, the son of Richard Warnford Hill, bank manager, of Kinsale, Co. Cork, and his wife Olive (née McIlwaine). He was the only child of his father's…

Hitchcock, Reginald Ingram Montgomery (‘Rex Ingram’) (1893–1950), film director,was born 18 January 1893 at 58 Grosvenor Square, Rathmines, Dublin, the elder of two sons of Francis Ryan Montgomery Hitchcock, clergyman and Donnellan lecturer at Trinity College Dublin (1912), and his wife…

Hitchcock, Robert (c.1744–1809), actor, playwright, and theatre historian, was born in England, the son of John and Elizabeth Hitchcock. He first came to prominence in 1769 as a member of the Theatre Royal, Norwich, with his wife, Sarah Webb. Less successful than Sarah (who…

Hobson, Valerie (1917–98), actress, was born 14 April 1917 at Larne, Co. Antrim, daughter of Commander Robert Gordon Hobson (1877–1940), naval officer, and Violette Hobson (née Hamilton-Willoughby). Educated at St Augustine's Priory, London, she was stage-struck from a young age.…

Hoey, Moira (1922–2010), actress, was born on 13 March 1922 in Cork city, the only daughter of two children of James Deady (d. 1952), a draper's assistant (described as a retired merchant at his death), and his wife Mary 'Cissie' (née Hickey). Christened Mary Frances, she used Moira…

Holloway, Joseph (1861–1944), theatre critic and diarist, was born 21 March 1861 at 71 Lower Camden St., Dublin, where his father ran a bakery. One of two children, he was educated at St Vincent's College, Castleknock, Co. Dublin. In January 1874 his father died, and for the next…

Honner, Maria (1808–70), actress, was born Maria Macarthy on 21 December 1808 in Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, daughter of Eugene Macarthy (1788–1866), actor and manager. Educated in Cork, she lost her mother (name unknown) at a young age and made an early debut, at the age of 15, on…

Horniman, Annie Elizabeth Fredrika (1860–1937), founding patron of the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, was born 3 October 1860, at Forest Hill, London, the only daughter of Frederick John Horniman (founder of the Horniman Museum) and Rebekah Horniman (née Emslie, d. 1895). Her grandfather,…

Hunter, Richard (‘Dicky’) Henry (1882/5–1970), anatomist and circus impresario, was born 15 May 1882/5 in Berbice, British Guiana (Guyana), son of parents (whose names remain unknown) from Portglenone, Co. Antrim, and was educated at Ballymena, Co. Antrim, at the Model School and…

Hunt, Hugh (1911–93), theatre director and academic, was born 25 September 1911 in Camberley, Surrey, England, son of Capt. C. E. Hunt of the Indian army. Educated at Marlborough College, he spent time at the Sorbonne and Heidelberg before entering Magdalen College, Oxford.…

Hurst, Brian Desmond (1895–1986), film director, was born Hans Moore Hawthorn Hurst in east Belfast on 12 February 1895, seventh child (of five sons and three daughters) of Robert Hurst, shipyard metalworker, and his first wife, Esther (née Hawthorn). The family moved between Belfast…

Huston, John (1906–87), film director, was born 5 August 1906 in Nevada, Missouri, USA, only child of Walter Huston (1884–1950), an actor whose mother was possibly from Ireland, and his wife Rhea Huston (née Gore), a journalist. Diagnosed with heart and kidney disease as a child, he…

Hynes, (Oliver) Jerome (Morley) (1959–2005), theatre and festival manager, and arts administrator, was born 30 September 1959 at St John of God nursing home, Ballymote, Co. Sligo, one of two sons and two daughters of Oliver P. Hynes (c.1920–2004), vocational teacher, and his…

Inglis, Anthony Vivian (‘Tony’) (1911–97), film art director, was born 14 April 1911 in Dublin, son of John J. Inglis, civil engineer, and Annie Inglis (née O'Reilly). During the 1916 rising the family house in Mount St. was occupied by British soldiers. Tony had a brief vocation…

Johnstone, John Henry (1749–1828), actor and singer, was born 1 August 1749 in Co. Kilkenny, son of a quartermaster in an Irish regiment of horse; there are few details about the rest of his family. His father died when he was a child and he was supported by his mother, who sold…

Jones, Frederick Edward (1759–1834), theatre manager, was born at Vesington, Co. Meath, into a prosperous protestant family; no other details of his background are available. Educated in Ireland and then on the Continent, he returned to Ireland c.1793 to run the Music Hall…

Jordan, John Edward (1930–88), writer, actor, academic, and broadcaster, was born 8 April 1930 in Dublin, eldest of two sons and a daughter of John Anthony Jordan, cooper at Guinness's brewery, and Mary Agnes Jordan (née Byrne), born of Irish parents in Jarrow, England; both of Parkview…