Johnstone, John Henry
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
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
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…...
Judge, Michael
Judge, Michael (1921–2015), writer and teacher, was born on 26 July 1921, one of eight children of Michael Judge, a builder, and his wife Elizabeth (née Smith) at the family home at 189 Clonliffe Road, Drumcondra, Dublin. He was educated at the Irish-language school Coláiste Mhuire on…...
Kavanagh (Caomhánach), Séamus
Kavanagh (Caomhánach), Séamus (1910–64), teacher, actor, and broadcaster, was born 28 October 1910 in Sarsfield Quay, Dublin, son of Jack Kavanagh, shoemaker, and Julia Kavanagh (née Holohan). Educated at the Carmelite school in Whitefriar St., he was a monitor there for four years…...
Kavanagh, James Blake
Kavanagh, James Blake (1822–86), priest, nationalist, and philosophical and scientific writer, was born in Kilballyowen, in the parish of Killaveny, Co. Wicklow, son of Thomas Kavanagh and Mary Kavanagh (née McDonald). He received his early education at St Peter's College, Wexford…...
Keane, Eamonn Patrick
Keane, Eamonn Patrick (1925–90), actor, was born Edmund Keane on 30 March 1925 in Listowel, Co. Kerry, second among nine children of William Keane, national school teacher, from Listowel, and Hannah Keane (née Purtill), farmer's daughter, from Ballydonoghue, near Listowel. Educated…...
Keating, Justin Pascal
Keating, Justin Pascal (1930–2009), politician, veterinarian and television presenter, was born 7 January 1930 in a nursing home at 37 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin, younger of two sons of Seán Keating (qv), artist, and…...
Kee, Robert
Kee, Robert (1919–2013), journalist, broadcaster and historian, was born in Calcutta, India, on 5 October 1919, only child of Robert Kee (1879–1958), manager of a jute mill, and his wife Dorothy Frances (née Monkman). The family were initially prosperous, but in the Great Depression of…...
Kelly, David
Kelly, David (1929–2012), actor, was born on 11 July 1929 in the Rotunda hospital, Dublin, the son of Edward Kelly, a clerk, and his wife Hannah (née O'Connor). He grew up in Dublin, first in Fairview and then Clonskeagh, and attended Synge Street…...
Kelly, Éamon
Kelly, Éamon (1914–2001), actor and storyteller, was born 30 March 1914 at his grandparents’ house in the Gneeveguilla–Rathmore region of east Kerry, near the Cork border, eldest of eight children of Edmund (‘Ned’) Kelly, local carpenter-builder, and Johanna Kelly (née Cashman). Within…...
Kelly, Michael
Kelly, Michael (1762–1826), actor, singer, and composer, was born 25 December 1762 in Dublin, eldest of the fourteen children of Thomas Kelly, wine merchant and deputy master of ceremonies at Dublin castle, and his wife, formerly a Miss McCabe, from Co. Westmeath. Displaying an…...
Kelly, (Patrick) Colm
Kelly, (Patrick) Colm (1925–2002), director of Athlone Drama Festival, was born 19 January 1925 in Dysart, Co. Roscommon, youngest son in a family of seven sons and one daughter of Denis Joseph Kelly and his wife Fanny Lucy (née Power or Le Poer), who was born in Devonshire, England…...
Kenny, Sean
Kenny, Sean (1932–73), set designer and architect, was born John Noel Kenny on 23 December 1932 in Portroe, Co. Tipperary, eldest among nine sons of Thomas Joseph Kenny, builder and former IRA man, and Nora Kenny (née Gleeson). He was educated…...
Knowles, James Sheridan
Knowles, James Sheridan (1784–1862), playwright, actor, and teacher, was born 12 May 1784 in Anne Street, Cork, the son of schoolteacher and lexicographer James Knowles (qv), a first cousin of…...
Lally, Mick
Lally, Mick (1945–2010), actor, was born on 10 November 1945 in Tourmakeady, Co. Mayo, the eldest of seven children (two sons and five daughters) of Thomas Lally, a hill farmer with thirty acres, and his wife May (née McGing). The district was bilingual and Lally grew up as a native…...
Lambert, Eugene
Lambert, Eugene (1928–2010), puppeteer and entertainer, was born in spring 1928 in Bayview Terrace, Sligo, one of two sons and one daughter in the family of John Malachy ('Jack') Lambert (d. 1943), county librarian of Sligo, and Eileen Lambert (née O'Connor; d. 1985). His mother had…...
La Rue, Danny
La Rue, Danny (1927–2009), female impersonator and entertainer, was born Daniel Patrick Carroll on 26 July 1927 at 10 Horgan's Buildings, Cork, the youngest of five children of Thomas Carroll (1895–1929), a carpenter, and his wife Mary Anne (née Dennehy) (1897–1976), a seamstress. He…...
Lawrence, William John
Lawrence, William John (1862–1940), drama critic, was born 29 October 1862 in Belfast, son of Joseph Lawrence, railway station manager; nothing is known of his mother. He was educated at the dowager countess of Annesley's private school at Newcastle, Co. Down, and at Methodist…...
Lehane, Con
Lehane, Con (1912–83), republican, politician, solicitor and actor, was born in Belfast on 7 May 1912, the only surviving child of Denis Lehane (Donncadh Ó Liatháinn), an excise officer originally from Co. Cork, and his wife Mary (née Connolly), a native of the Falls Road in Belfast…...
Lennon, Peter Gerard
Lennon, Peter Gerard (1930–2011), journalist, documentary film-maker and social critic, was born on 28 February 1930 at 30 North Frederick Street, Dublin, the eldest of three sons of Peter Joseph Lennon and his wife Delia (née Fenton). His mother was a former post office worker…...
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…...
Leonard, Hugh
Leonard, Hugh (1926–2009), dramatist and commentator, was born John Joseph Byrne in the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, Dublin, on 9 November 1926, son of Annie Byrne and an unknown father. Aged twelve days, he was informally adopted by Margaret Keyes (née Doyle) of Dalkey,…...
Lewis, Clive Staples (‘Jack’)
Lewis, Clive Staples (‘Jack’) (1898–1963), writer, scholar, and Christian apologist, was born 29 November 1898 in Dundela Villas, Belfast, the younger son of Albert James Lewis, police solicitor and unionist activist, and his wife, Florence (Flora) Augusta, daughter of the Rev.…...
Lewis, John
Lewis, John (fl. 1740–1769), painter and scenographer, was probably born in England or Wales. Little is known about his origins or artistic training, although he was painting for at least a decade before his arrival in Ireland, and it has been suggested that from 1739–45 he was a…...