Conference tallis::celt

98.0. "*** Deaths ***" by TALLIS::DARCY (George @Littleton Mass USA) Mon Nov 17 1986 16:24

Associated Press Mon 17-NOV-1986 05:52                          Obit-Mc Kenna

   Irish Actress Siobhan McKenna is Dead
   DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) - Irish actress Siobhan McKenna, acclaimed
for the roles of tragic heroines she performed during a stage and
screen career spanning more than 40 years, has died of a heart
attack at the age of 63.
   Miss McKenna died Sunday, a week after undergoing surgery for
lung cancer, according to a spokeswoman at Blackrock Clinic in
Dublin.
   A strong-boned, vibrant actress, and in youth the classic
red-haired Irish beauty, Miss McKenna was ``the physical embodiment
of Mother Ireland,'' said Irish theater critic Fintan O'Toole during
the recent Dublin Theater Festival.
   She was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on May 24, 1923, and
made her first stage appearances at a Gaelic-speaking theater in
Galway. In 1943, sahe headed to Dublin's famed Abbey Theater, where
she stayed for four years performing in both English and Gaelic.
   After her London debut in 1947 as Nora in ``The White Steed,''
she cemented her reputation in England acting the martyred Joan of
Arc in a 1954 production of Shaw's ``Saint Joan.''
   ``From the moment she made her entrance, barefoot, in a tattered
Associated Press Mon 17-NOV-1986 05:52                 Obit-Mc Kenna (cont'd)

red flannel dress, she held the audience spellbound,'' said today's
Times of London, calling it ``her most famous role.''
   In 1955, she headed for Broadway, where she starred opposite
Gladys Cooper in Enid Bagnold's ``The Chalk Garden.''
   Later North American engagements included ``Saint Joan'' in
Cambridge, Mass., and New York in 1956; Viola in Shakespeare's
``Twelfth Night'' at the Stratford Festival in Ontario in 1957, and
the lead role in an off-Broadway production of ``Hamlet'' in 1957.
   From 1960 onwards, Miss McKenna became a regular at the annual
Dublin Theater Festival, playing such roles as Pegeen Mike in John
Millington Synge's ``Playboy of the Western World,'' Joan Dark in
Bertolt Brecht's ``Saint Joan of the Stockyards,'' and Ranevskaya in
Chekhov's ``The Cherry Orchard.''
   Among landmarks in her later career were her solo shows,
especially ``Here Are Ladies'' (1970), a compilation of great women
of Irish literature culled from the works of William Butler Yeats,
Samuel Beckett and James Joyce.
   Most recently, Miss McKenna starred as the bedridden Mommo in Tom
Murphy's ``Bailegangaire,'' a play that is scheduled to have its
American debut at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, Conn., in
Associated Press Mon 17-NOV-1986 05:52                 Obit-Mc Kenna (cont'd)

March 1987.
   She made her film debut in 1946 in ``Hungry Hill,'' a tale of an
Irish family feud spanning three generations. Other film work
included Nicholas Ray's 1961 ``King of Kings,'' a 1964 remake of
``Of Human Bondage,'' and David Lean's ``Doctor Zhivago'' in 1965.
   Miss McKenna was married for 22 years to Hollywood actor Denis
O'Dea, who died in 1978, and had one son, Donnacha.
   Her funeral is expected to take place Wednesday in Galway on the
west coast of Ireland, where she made her stage debut in 1940.
Associated Press Sun 16-NOV-1986 17:02                 Obit-Mc Kenna (cont'd)

received rave reviews.
   She made her film debut in 1946 in ``Hungry Hill,'' a tale of an
Irish family feud spanning three generations. Other film work
included Nicholas Ray's 1961 ``King of Kings,'' a 1964 remake of
``Of Human Bondage,'' and David Lean's ``Doctor Zhivago'' in 1965.
   Miss McKenna was married for 22 years to Hollywood actor Denis
O'Dea, who died in 1978, and had one son, Donnacha.

    I was in Galway when she died and everyone just seemed to be in
    some state or form of shock....
    
    She was brilliant.
    
    							Carol.

    Leaprechauns missed somebody.
    
    Re .-1
    Somebody came to Galway and did'nt look up the Snake, forsooth,
    I must chide thee, Carol Higgins.
    
    Snake needs porter excuses.
    

    
    I remember the day that Siohban McKenna died.  I had been sittng
    in my doctor's waiting room, reading rubbish in the Boston
    Herald when I came across her obituary.  It filled me with sadness.
    
    I don't think anyone can deny what a fine actress she was. 
    I never had the chance to see her Saint Joan or her Pegeen Mike
    on stage, but do always try to catch the excellent film version
    of "The Playboy of the Western World" whenever it appears on TV.
    This combination of brilliant play and brilliant performance has
    seldom been surpassed.  I was however fortunate enough to see her
    do a performance of O'Casey's "In the Shadow of a Gunman" here in
    Boston and also to see her do a bit of Noel Coward fluff called
    "Fallen Angels" in Dublin several years back.  I also have a recording
    of her reading some of the Irish folk and faerie tales as edited
    by W. B. Yeats.
    
    I have only recently started reading this notesfile, so this note
    may seem a bit late in the writing, but since it is so close to
    her anniversary I thought it not inappropriate.
    

     Sad news indeed. Fine flute player. Great sense of humour.
    Saw him with Altan this past summer in Glasgow. He appeared to
    have been having a rough go of it but played his heart out and
    kept everyone smiling.