Cowley, John Ultan (1923–98) actor and animal welfare activist, was born 8 September 1923 in Ardbraccan, Navan, Co. Meath, the third child of Patrick Cowley, a small farmer, and his wife Margaret. Educated at the local national school, he left at the age of thirteen to work on the family farm. He also worked with a horse and cart drawing stones from a local quarry. He was also an enthusiastic amateur actor and learned his trade in the fit-ups of the forties and fifties. Moving to England, he got parts in television shows such as ‘Z Cars’ and ‘No hiding place’. During the 1950s and 60s, he was also very active in theatre, and had a long association with the Globe theatre company in Dún Laoghaire, which he joined in 1956. He also played in the Abbey, Gate and Olympia theatres, travelled Europe in 1960–61 with J. M. Synge's (qv) ‘Playboy of the western world’, and starred in the early Hugh Leonard (qv) play ‘I loved you last summer’.
Cowley is best known for his portrayal of the bluff countryman Tom Riordan in RTÉ's rural drama, ‘The Riordans’. First aired on 4 January 1965, it ran until 28 May 1979. One of RTÉ's most successful programmes, it had a huge audience and a considerable social impact through its treatment of controversial topics such as divorce, contraception, and mixed marriages. When it ended in 1979 Cowley was bitterly disappointed and accused RTÉ of throwing him on the scrap heap. After this he continued to work in theatre and had occasional appearances on screen, including a part in Jim Sheridan's The field (1991).
Cowley also wrote poetry and a play, ‘A fool and his money’. His other hobbies included a passion for history (particularly the 1798 period), hurling, Gaelic football, boxing, and swimming. A patron and a founder member of the Irish Council Against Blood sports in 1967, Cowley was a leading opponent of hare coursing, popularising the cause through an appearance on ‘The Late Late Show’ in 1967. He died 13 February 1998. In 1953 Cowley married Ann D'Alton, an actor who later appeared with him in ‘The Riordans’; they had one son.