O'Casey, Eileen
O'Casey, Eileen (1897–1995), actress, author, and wife of writer Sean O'Casey (qv), was born 27 December 1897 in Dublin, youngest among three children of Edward Reynolds , accountant, from Athlone, Co. Westmeath, and Kathleen Reynolds (…...
O'Connell, Deirdre
O'Connell, Deirdre (1939–2001), founder of the Focus Theatre, was born Eleanor O'Connell on 16 June 1939 in New York, USA, fourth among five children of Michael Joe O'Connell, worker in the Brooklyn navy yard and trade unionist, and his wife Nellie, daughter of Timothy Taaffe of…...
O'Hara, Maureen
O’Hara, Maureen (1920–2015), actor, was born Maureen FitzSimons on 17 August 1920 at the family home at 32 Upper Beechwood Avenue in Ranelagh, Dublin. Her father, Charles Stewart Parnell FitzSimons, managed a high-end clothing company and was part-owner of Dublin’s Shamrock Rovers FC.…...
O'Malley, Mary (Margaret)
O'Malley, Mary (Margaret) (1918–2006), theatrical director and activist, co-founder of the Lyric Players Theatre in Belfast, was born Mary Margaret Hickey in Mallow, Co. Cork, on 28 July 1918, the posthumous daughter of Daniel Hickey and his wife Annie (née Lysaght). Her father died of…...
O'Neill, Eliza (Lady Wrixon- Becher)
O'Neill, Eliza (Lady Wrixon- Becher) (1791–1872), actress, was born in Drogheda, Co. Louth. Both her father (John O'Neill, manager of a Drogheda theatre) and mother (formerly a Miss Featherstone) were actors, and she, like her sister and three brothers, performed on the stage from…...
O'Neill, Máire (Molly)
O'Neill, Máire (Molly) (1886–1952), actress, was born 12 January 1886 in Dublin as Mary Allgood, daughter of George Allgood , printing compositor and son of a protestant English army officer, and Margaret Allgood (née Harold), whose catholic parents owned a junk shop on the Dublin quays…...
O'Sullivan, Maureen Paula
O'Sullivan, Maureen Paula (1911–98), actress, was born 17 May 1911 at Boyle, Co. Roscommon, one of the five children of Major Charles Joseph O'Sullivan of the Connaught Rangers, and his wife, Mary Lovatt (née Fraser). Educated briefly at a convent in Dublin, she also attended the…...
Pope, Maria
Pope, Maria (1775–1803), actress, was born Maria Ann Campion in Waterford, daughter of a merchant and member of an old Cork family. Her father died around 1788, leaving her mother, a younger sister, and herself impoverished. Her mother solicited Hitchcock, prompter at Crow St.…...
Potter, Maureen
Potter, Maureen (1925–2004), variety artiste, comedian, and actress, was born Maria Philomena Potter (the baptising priest supposedly refused to countenance 'Maureen' as an acceptable Christian name) on 3 January 1925 at 7 St Joseph's Terrace, Philipsburg Avenue, Fairview, Dublin, the…...
Raftery, Mary Frances Thérèse
Raftery, Mary Frances Thérèse (1957–2012), campaigning journalist and documentary maker, was born on 21 December 1957 in Dublin to Adrian Raftery, an Irish diplomat, and Ita Raftery (née Elmes). She had one sister and two brothers. The family lived in France for much of her early life,…...
Rehan, Ada
Rehan, Ada (1857–1916), American actress, was born 22 April 1857 in Limerick, fifth of six children of Thomas Crehan and Harriet Crehan (née Ryan) of Limerick (Thomas Crehan, an adventurer and speculator, was in prison for smuggling when he met and courted Harriet Ryan, the jail…...
Reid, Christina
Reid, Christina (1942–2015), playwright, was born on 12 March 1942 in Ardoyne in North Belfast, the eldest of three children and only daughter of James Orchin, a Belfast dock worker, and Christina Orchin, who worked as a linen mill worker and later a waitress. Although the family…...
Richards, Shelah
Richards, Shelah (1903–85), actress and director, was born 23 May 1903 in Dublin, the daughter of John William Richards, solicitor, and Adelaide Richards (née Roper), a once militant suffragette. Educated at Alexandra College, Dublin, and a convent in Paris, she was introduced to…...
Robinson, Dolly
Robinson, Dolly (1901–77), artist and theatre designer, was born Dorothy Travers Smith on 26 October 1901 in Dublin, daughter of Richard Travers Smith, MD, FRCPI, of 20…...
Ryan, Phyllis Carmel
Ryan, Phyllis Carmel (1920–2011), actress and theatre producer, was born on 28 July 1920 at 79 Upper Rathmines Road, Dublin, the younger of two daughters of Thomas J. Ryan, who served in the British army and was subsequently a civil servant, and his wife May (or 'Maisie') (née…...
Salkeld, Blanaid
Salkeld, Blanaid (1880–1958), poet and actor, was born Florence ffrench-Mullen on 10 August 1880 in India, daughter of Lt Colonel Jarlath ffrench-Mullen and Anna Maria (Mina) Byrne. Her father was in the Bengal medical service and brother to St Laurence ffrench-Mullen (father of…...
Sargent, Fay
Sargent, Fay (1890/91–1967), singer, actress, and journalist, was born in Waterford in 1890 or 1891, an only child, and christened Mary Gertrude. Her father Terence Hannan died, aged 38, when she was an infant, and she and her mother went to England to live with her uncle, the Rev.…...
Smith, Constance Mary
Smith, Constance Mary (1928–2003), actor, was born in January or February 1928 in Limerick. Her father, a Dublin native who had served in the British army during the first world war, was working on construction of the Ardnacrusha power station; her mother Mary was from Limerick. On…...
Smithson, Harriet Constance
Smithson, Harriet Constance (1800–54), actress and wife of Hector Berlioz , was born 18 March 1800 in Ennis, Co. Clare, daughter of William Joseph Smithson, actor and theatrical manager, originally from Gloucestershire, England. Details of her mother are scarce and she is usually…...
Swift, Carolyn
Swift, Carolyn (1923–2002), writer, broadcaster, journalist, critic, actress, and theatre owner, was born Carol Samuel on 21 September 1923 in London, elder of two children of Capt. Cecil Samuel, businessman, and Enid Samuel (née Van den Bergh), both of Grosvenor Square, London W1.…...
Toal, Maureen
Toal, Maureen (1930–2012), actress, was born Mary Toal on 7 September 1930 in a nursing home on the North Circular Road, Dublin, one of five children (two boys and three girls) of Thomas Toal, a clerk in Irish Shell, and his wife Mary (née Bates). The family lived in Kincora Park,…...
Woffington Margaret (‘Peg’)
Woffington Margaret (‘Peg’) (c.1720–1760), actress, was born in Dublin, elder of two daughters of John Woffington, bricklayer, and his wife, Hannah. Her funeral monument at St Mary's church, Teddington, Middlesex, claims she was born 18 October 1720, though it is quite…...
Woffington, Mary
This is a co-subject for the entry on Woffington Margaret (‘Peg’). View the original entry....