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Anna Manahan

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Anna Manahan
Born
Anna Maria Manahan

(1924-10-18)18 October 1924
County Waterford, Ireland
Died8 March 2009(2009-03-08) (aged 84)
OccupationActress

Anna Maria Manahan (18 October 1924 – 8 March 2009) was an Irish stage, film and television actress. She interpreted the works of, among others, Sean O'Casey, John B Keane, J. M. Synge, Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Martin McDonagh, Christy Brown, and Brian Friel.

Career

Manahan was born in County Waterford, Ireland. Her career began when, as a young woman, she was recruited by the legendary Irish impresarios and theatrical directors Micheál MacLiammóir and Hilton Edwards. She later married stage director Colm O'Kelly, who died not long afterwards of polio, which he contracted after swimming in the Nile during a theatre tour of Egypt. They had no children and she never remarried. She was known professionally by her maiden name.

In 1957, she played Serafina in the first Irish production of Tennessee Williams' The Rose Tattoo and achieved unexpected notoriety when she and several other members of the cast were arrested for the possession of a condom on stage.[1]

Manahan played a minor role in the Irish cult soap opera The Riordans (1960s), and as Mrs. Kenefick in the TV comedy Me Mammy (1970s). She also played the lead in the Irish comedy series, Leave It To Mrs O'Brien (1980s) and Mrs. Cadogan in The Irish R.M. (1980s). Most recently she played Ursula on Fair City, for which her niece, Michele Manahan (daughter of Michael Manahan), is a writer.

She had an extensive theatre portfolio having played at theatres throughout Ireland, the UK, continental Europe, the USA and Australia. She won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role as the Mag in Martin McDonagh's The Beauty Queen of Leenane on Broadway. She previously received a Tony nomination in 1969 for Brian Friel's Lovers.

The late Irish playwright John B. Keane wrote the play Big Maggie specifically for her. In 2001 she starred in Keane's The Matchmaker with veteran Irish actor Des Keogh. In 2005 she starred in Sisters, a new play by Declan Hassett that was also written for her. The production toured Ireland and was staged at the International Festival of World Theatre in Colorado. The production played at the 59e59 Theater in New York City in 2006.

She appeared in films starring, among others, Laurence Olivier, Peter Cushing, Kenneth More, Maggie Smith, Albert Finney and Brenda Fricker, and with John Gielgud in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1977).

She received the Gold Medal of the Éire Society of Boston in 1984 and thus joined the company of past recipients such as John F. Kennedy, and film makers John Ford and John Huston. She received an honorary doctorate in letters from the University of Limerick in 2003. She was granted the freedom of the city of Waterford in 2002 in recognition of her life's achievement in the arts. She thus became the 28th Freeman of Waterford since Isaac Butt in 1877.

In 2004 she started to play the role of Ursula in Fair City. All About Anna (2005) a documentary on her life and work was made by Charlie Mc Carthy/Icebox Films for RTÉ television. In 2008, she became the first ever patron of the Active Retirement Ireland organization.[2] Manahan died of multiple organ failure on 8 March 2009.[3]

Theatre Performances

  • Big Maggie (written for her by John B. Keane)
  • The Rose Tattoo
  • Moon for the Misbegotten
  • Bloomsday
  • Entertaining Mr Sloane
  • The Killing of Sister George
  • Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
  • The Gingerbread Lady
  • Lovers (Abbey Dublin, London and Broadway: Tony nomination)
  • The Plough and the Stars (RNT: Olivier nomination)
  • Live Like Pigs (Royal Court)
  • Red Riding Hood
  • The Beauty Queen of Leenane (one and a half years on Broadway: Tony Award) (Druid TC):
  • Skull in Connemara (London and Sydney Festival) (Druid TC)
  • The Loves of Cass Maguire (Druid TC)
  • I Do Not LIke Thee Dr Fell (Druid TC)
  • The Crucible (Red Kettle TC)
  • An Old Lady's Guide to Survival (Red Kettle TC)
  • Happy Birthday Dear Alice (Red Kettle TC)
  • The Guernica Hotel (Red Kettle TC)
  • A Miracle in Ballymore (Red Kettle TC)
  • The Shaughraun (Abbey, Dublin)
  • The Matchmaker (Gemini Productions)
  • The Taylor and Ansty (Gemini Productions)
  • Year of the Hiker (Gemini Productions)
  • Sweet and Sour (Gemini Productions)
  • Sisters (written for her by Declan Hassett)

Radio Performances

  • Talking Heads (RTÉ)
  • Happy Birthday Dear Alice (RTÉ)
  • All That Fall (BBC)
  • Ballylenon (BBC)

Television Performances

  • Me Mammy (BBC)
  • The Riordans (RTÉ)
  • Leave It to Mrs O'Brien (RTÉ)
  • The Irish R.M.
  • The Bill
  • The Treaty
  • Blind Justice
  • Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
  • The Ballyskillen Opera House
  • Fair City
  • Lovejoy

Films

References

  1. ^ "Irish Stage Censorship in the 1950s" CJO - Abstract
  2. ^ Notice Guardian Obituary
  3. ^ "Anna Manahan, Tony-Winning Irish Actress, Is Dead at 84" March 10, 2009, New York Times

External links

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