Lentin, Louis
Lentin, Louis (1933–2014), theatre, film and television producer and director, was born in Limerick on 11 December 1933, the first of six children of Isaac Lentin, who owned a women’s tailoring business, and Annie Rose (Hyacinth) Lentin (née Goldberg). His parents were the children of…...
Linnane, Joe
Linnane, Joe (1910–81), broadcaster and actor, was born 19 April 1910 in Marlborough Street, Dublin, the son of Thomas Linnane, who owned and ran a drapery in Marlborough Street, and his wife Johanna (Josephine) (née Lambe). The family subsequently moved to Sandymount Avenue, Dublin,…...
Logan, Michael J. (Ó Lócháin, Micheál)
Logan, Michael J. (Ó Lócháin, Micheál) (1836–99), editor, publisher, and ‘father of the Gaelic language movement’ in America (Ford, 1899), was born 29 September 1836 at Currach Doire (Curraghderry), Baile an Mhuilinn (Milltown), near Tuam, Co. Galway, son of Patrick Logan, a small…...
Lynch, Joseph Lawrence (‘Joe’)
Lynch, Joseph Lawrence (‘Joe’) (1926–2001), actor and singer, was born 16 July 1926 in Mallow, Co. Cork, son of Jim Lynch, engine driver, and Madge Lynch (née Delany), bookbinder. He was educated at the North Monastery CBS in Cork city and…...
MacGowran, Jack
MacGowran, Jack (1918–73), actor, was born 13 October 1918 in Ranelagh, Dublin, the only son among three children of Matthew MacGowran, a sporadically employed travelling salesman, and Gertrude MacGowran (née Shanahan). ‘Jackie’, as he was always known, was educated at the…...
Mackey, Rex
Mackey, Rex (1911–99), barrister, actor, and writer, was born Arthur Joseph Connel Mackey on 7 December 1911, the eldest of three sons and two daughters of Joseph Arthur Mackey of Liosnamara, Bray, Co. Wicklow, and his wife Gertrude (née Gallagher). Educated at Castleknock College…...
Maher, Michael
Maher, Michael (1860–1918), Jesuit priest, philosopher, and psychologist, was born 29 April 1850 in Church St., Leighlinbridge, Co. Carlow. Educated at the school of Mr Conwell in Leighlinbridge, he later entered the Jesuit college at Tullabeg, King's Co., where his uncle, Fr…...
Malone, James
Malone, James (d. 1721), printer and bookseller, was of obscure origin. A catholic, he was admitted free of the city of Dublin in 1672, and of the guild of stationers in 1676. He came to prominence under James II (qv); when the…...
Martyn, Edward
Martyn, Edward (1859–1923), dramatist, patron of the arts and nationalist, was born 31 January 1859 at his mother's family home at Masonbrook, Loughrea, Co. Galway, elder of two sons of Anne Martyn (neé Smith; d. 1898) and John Martyn (d. 1860), a philanderer by repute, of Tulira Castle…...
McAnally, Ray
McAnally, Ray (1926–89), actor, was born 30 March 1926 in Buncrana, Co. Donegal, son of James William McAnally, bank manager, and Winifred McAnally (née Ward). He was educated at the national school in Moville, Co. Donegal, and St Eunan's College, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal. From the age…...
McCann, Donal Francis
McCann, Donal Francis (1943–99), actor, was born 7 May 1943 in the Stella Maris private nursing home, 17 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin, one of two sons (his brother died young) and one daughter of John McCann (qv), journalist, politician, and…...
McClory, Kevin O'Donovan
McClory, Kevin O'Donovan (1926–2006), film maker, was born in Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, on 8 June 1926, son of Thomas John O'Donovan McClory (stage name Desmond O'Donovan), from Banbridge, Co. Down, and his wife Winifred (née Doran) from Wexford. Both parents were actors in…...
McKenna, Thomas Patrick ('T. P.')
McKenna, Thomas Patrick ('T. P.') (1929–2011), actor, was born on 7 September 1929 in Mullagh, Co. Cavan, the eldest of ten children of Raphael ('Ralph') McKenna, an auctioneer and merchant, and his wife Mae. After attending Mullagh national school, he boarded at St Patrick's College,…...
Mitchel, Charles Gerald
Mitchel, Charles Gerald (1920–96), actor and broadcaster, was born 8 November 1920 at Montpelier Manor, Monkstown, Co. Dublin, third among four children of Albert David Mitchel, manufacturer of religious goods, and Netta Mitchel (née Fitzgerald), also a company director, from…...
Montgomery, James
Montgomery, James (1870–1943), filmcensor, was born 8 October 1870 in Dublin, son of Thomas Montgomery and Mary Montgomery (née Dempsey), of Lime St., Dublin. Educated at CBS, Westland Row, he worked on the engineering staff of the…...
Moore, Kieron
Moore, Kieron (1924–2007), actor and catholic activist, was born Ciarán Ó hAnnracháin in Skibbereen, Co. Cork, on 5 October 1924, one of four sons and two daughters of the Gaelic Leaguer and political activist Peadar Ó hAnnracháin (1873–1965) and his wife Máire Ní Dheasúna (Desmond) (…...
Moore, Michael
Moore, Michael (c.1639–1726), priest, philosopher and educationist, was born in Bridge St., Dublin, son of Andrew Moore and Mary Moore (née Dowdall) of Mountown (Monktown, Co. Meath). In the 1650s Moore travelled to Nantes, where he received an education in the humanities…...
Moore, Theophilus
Moore, Theophilus (c.1730–c.1809), almanack compiler, may have been born in King's Co. (Offaly), but details of his life are scant and conflicting. John McCall (qv) in his comprehensive ‘History of Irish almanacks’ (written 1878; unpublished…...
Morgan, Dermot
Morgan, Dermot (1952–98), comedian, was born 31 March 1952 in a nursing home at 7 Herbert Place, Dublin, third child and elder son among two sons and two daughters of Donnchadh Morgan (d. 1974, suddenly in his early 50s), a civil servant, native of Thurles, Co. Tipperary, and Hildegarde…...
Moriarty, John Stephen
Moriarty, John Stephen (1938–2007), philosopher and shaman, was born 2 February 1938 at Moyvane, near Listowel, Co. Kerry, fourth of six children (two sons and four daughters) of James Moriarty, smallholder and native speaker of Irish (with eleven cows and 'thirty-two acres of bad,…...
Murphy, Arthur
Murphy, Arthur (1727–1805), dramatist, actor, and lawyer, was born 27 December 1727 at his mother's family home at Cloonyquin, Co. Roscommon, the fifth (and second surviving) child of Richard Murphy, a prosperous Dublin merchant, and his wife, Jane (née French) (d. 1761). Following…...
Murphy, John
Murphy, John (c.1755–1832), engraver and educational publisher, was born in Cork city and reared in its northern suburbs, around Mallow Lane. At the age of seventeen he emigrated to London, led by his ‘predilection for the Fine Arts and a desire to cultivate an inclination for…...
Nolan, Thomas
Nolan, Thomas (1872/3–1939), newspaper editor and publisher, was educated at the CBS, Tralee, Co. Kerry; few other details of his early life are available. As a young man he joined the clerical staff of J. B. Healy, building…...
O'Connor, Fergal
O'Connor, Fergal (1926–2005), priest and philosopher, was born Thomas Francis O'Connor on 6 December 1926 in Rathmorrel, Causeway, Co. Kerry, third of seven children of Henry O'Connor, national school teacher, and his wife Nora (née Egan). O'Connor's grandfather had also been a…...
Ó Cuinneagáin, Gearóid Seán Caoimhín
Ó Cuinneagáin, Gearóid Seán Caoimhín (1910–91), political activist and publisher, was born 2 January 1910 at Belfast, the third child of Sean Cunningham and his wife Caitlín. He was educated in Belfast, at St Brigid's school, Malone Rd, and the …...