ANNA MANAHAN: ANNA MANAHAN, who has died aged 84, was one of Ireland's foremost actors. In a career spanning seven decades, she recreated many of the great characters of the golden age of Irish theatre and gave birth to a host of new characters created by the giants of contemporary Irish theatre.
In her memoir, Phyllis Ryan wrote that when she first met her friend and colleague in the late 1940s she “seemed destined to be one of the greats of Irish theatre”.
She was equally at home interpreting modern authors such as Brian Friel, Martin McDonagh and Brendan Behan as she was with Oscar Wilde, Seán O’Casey and John Millington Synge.
She acted with all the major Irish companies, including Hilton Edwards and Mícheál Mac Liammóir’s Gate Theatre, Druid and Gemini Productions.
Returning to her theatrical roots in Waterford, she made many appearances with the Red Kettle Theatre Company in productions such as Happy Birthday Dear Alice, The Old Ladies’ Guide to Survival and The Crucible.
Born in Waterford in 1924, she came from a theatrical background. As a schoolgirl she won her first acting award at a local feis. Invited to join the Waterford Dramatic Society, she made her debut in Quality Street.
She next enrolled in the Gaiety School of Acting where she studied under Ria Mooney. She got her first taste of touring with the fit-up company Equity Productions.
In 1949 she performed with the 37 Theatre Company for a season in Limerick, where she met her future husband Colm O’Kelly. In 1956, within 10 months of their marriage, he died tragically in Egypt while they were touring with the Gate Theatre.
In 1957, as Serafina in Tennessee Williams’s The Rose Tattoo at the Pike Theatre, she was centrally involved in the infamous “condom-that-wasn’t” affair that led to the production being shut down and the prosecution of the director Alan Simpson.
Fortunately the play ran long enough for her performance to impress Harold Hobson of the Sunday Times, who described it as a “tour de force of sustained intensity”.
This newspaper’s critic “K” wrote of her scenes with Pat Nolan, who played Mangiacavallo: “These two players combined beautifully through the whole range of tenderness, passion, folly and rip-roaring Sicilian emotionalism”.
She rarely “rested” during her long career. When roles on the Dublin stage were hard to come by she took to the road, displaying an astonishing work ethic. She also appeared in pub theatre and cabaret.
She appeared in the RTÉ television comedy series Leave It To Mrs O’Brien and more recently she played Ursula in Fair City. In addition, she played Mrs Cadogan in the Channel 4 series The Irish RM.
Film appearances include The Viking Queen and Hear My Song. And she was cast as Bella Cohen in Joseph Strick’s adaptation of Ulysses. Recognising her talent and professionalism, John B Keane created the character Big Maggie especially for her. Hugh Leonard said she enjoyed the respect of writers because she was faithful to the text. Echoing Leonard, Sylvia Beach described her interpretation of Molly Bloom’s soliloquy as “the Molly that Jimmy wrote about”.
In 1969 she received a Tony nomination when she starred in Brian Friel’s Lovers on Broadway. Almost 30 years later, in 1998, she returned to Broadway to play the manipulative mother Mag Folan in Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane. This time she scooped the best actress award.
Martin McDonagh this week said: “To have met and gotten to work with an actress as bright and brilliant as Anna on my very first play was one of the most rewarding experiences of my whole life. She was one of the true greats of Irish stage and screen and a lovely woman, and I’ll miss her.”
Des Keogh, who worked with her in productions such as John B Keane’s The Matchmaker, in an interview last year praised her resilience: “Like everyone, she had low ebbs in her career, but she kept going, she would tour the farthest-flung corners of Ireland with her one-woman show, she’d keep going no matter what.” She last toured Ireland in 2005 in Declan Hassett’s one-woman monologue Sisters; it was in this production that she took her final bow on Broadway.
Last autumn, after the Government announced the withdrawal of automatic entitlement to medical cards for over-70s, she said on radio that she would be prepared to go to jail over the issue if necessary. “How dare they, how dare they attack the most vulnerable people in the country, people who have given so much,” she said.
She was subsequently appointed the first patron of Active Retirement Ireland. An official of the organisation said: “She shows by example that it is possible for an older person to live a fruitful, active life; she is living proof that people can maintain their dignity and independence as they get older.”
Awarded the freedom of Waterford City in 2002, she was conferred with an honorary degree by the University of Limerick in 2003. Also in 2003 she received the Woman of the Year Drama Award. She is survived by her brothers Val and Joe, nieces and nephews.
Anna Manahan: born October 18th, 1924; died March 8th, 2009
Big Anna at the cutting edge – Culture Shock by Fintan O’Toole, WeekendReview,
page 9