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Fionnula Flanagan

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Fionnula Flanagan
Flanagan at a Sinn Féin meeting for the Save Moore Street campaign (18 May 2012)
Born
Fionnghuala Manon Flanagan

(1941-12-10) 10 December 1941 (age 82)
Dublin, Ireland
Occupation(s)Actress, political activist
Years active1965–present
SpouseGarrett O'Connor

Fionnghuala Manon Flanagan (born 10 December 1941), known professionally as Fionnula Flanagan, is an Irish actress who has worked extensively in theatre, film and television.

Early life

Flanagan was born and raised in Dublin, the daughter of Rosanna (née McGuirk) and Terence Niall Flanagan.[1] She grew up speaking both Irish and English fluently. Although her parents were not Irish speakers, they wanted Flanagan and her four siblings to learn the Irish language. She was educated in Switzerland and England. She trained at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and travelled throughout Europe before settling in Los Angeles, California in 1968.

Career

Flanagan came to prominence in Ireland in 1965 as a result of her role as Máire in the Telefís Éireann production of the Irish language play, An Triail, for which she received the Jacob's Award in Dublin for her "outstanding performance".[2] With her portrayal of Gerty McDowell in the 1967 film version of Ulysses, Flanagan established herself as one of the foremost interpreters of James Joyce.

She made her Broadway debut in 1968 in Brian Friel's Lovers, then appeared in The Incomparable Max (1971) and such Joycean theatrical projects as Ulysses in Nighttown (as Molly Bloom) and James Joyce's Women (1977). It was subsequently filmed in 1983, with Flanagan both producing and playing all six main female roles (Joyce's wife, Nora Barnacle, as well as fictional characters Molly Bloom, Gerty McDowell, etc.). A familiar presence in American television, has appeared in several made-for-TV movies, among them The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975) starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Mary White (1977), The Ewok Adventure (1984) and A Winner Never Quits (1986). She won an Emmy for her performance as Clothilde in the 1976 network miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man.

Flanagan's weekly-series stints have included Aunt Molly Culhane in How the West Was Won (1977), which earned her a second Emmy Award nomination. She did multiple appearances on Murder, She Wrote, one of them as Freida, a secretary aiding Jessica Fletcher in finding a murderer on the episode Steal me a Story (1987). She played Lt. Guyla Cook in Hard Copy (1987), and as Kathleen Meacham, wife of a police chief played by John Mahoney in H.E.L.P. (1990). Flanagan made guest appearances in three of the Star Trek spin-offs. She guest starred in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode Dax, the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Inheritance as Data's "mother", and she also appeared as the Vulcan Ambassador V'Lar in Star Trek: Enterprise. She guest starred in several episodes of Lost as Eloise Hawking, a recurring character.

She has appeared in numerous films, most notably The Others opposite Nicole Kidman, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood as the eldest Teensy, and Waking Ned. She appeared in television series and stage productions, including the Emmy-nominated miniseries, Revelations, starring Bill Pullman and Natascha McElhone, and in Transamerica, starring Felicity Huffman. From 2006–08, she played Rose Caffee, the matriarch of an Irish-American Rhode Island family on the Showtime drama, Brotherhood.

Personal life and politics

Flanagan appeared with Helen Mirren in Some Mother's Son, written and directed by Terry George, as the militantly supportive mother of a Provisional Irish Republican Army hunger striker in 1981. Subsequently, she spoke at a memorial hosted by Sinn Féin at the Citywest Building in Dublin for Irish republicans and their kin who were killed during the latest installment of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

She and her husband (since 1972), Dr. Garrett O'Connor, an Irish nationalist from Belfast, are known to host parties at their Hollywood Hills home for people in the Irish community. In July 2009, she joined Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams for a series of lectures across the USA supporting Irish unity. In October 2011, she announced her support for Sinn Féin politician Martin McGuinness in his unsuccessful bid for the Irish presidential election.[3]

Filmography

TV series

Awards and honours

IFTA Lifetime Achievement gong at the 9th Irish Film and Television Awards. [4]

References

  1. ^ Fionnuala Flanagan profile at FilmReference.com
  2. ^ The Irish Times, "Television awards presented", 9 December 1965
  3. ^ Fionnuala Flanagan endorsement of Martin McGuinness from Youtube
  4. ^ "Flanagan to receive IFTA honour". RTÉ Ten. Raidió Teilifís Éireann. 10 January 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2012.

Template:Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress 1991–2010

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