Anna Manahan
Encyclopedia
Anna Maria Manahan 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
.
, 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 alleged possession of a condom on stage.
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
. In 2006 the production played at the 59e59 Theater in New York City.
She appeared in films starring, among others, Laurence Olivier
, Peter Cushing
, Kenneth More
, Maggie Smith
, Albert Finney
and Brenda Fricker
.
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, Anna Manahan became the first ever patron of Active Retirement Ireland.
Anna Manahan died of multiple organ failure on 8 March 2009.
Seán O'Casey
Seán O'Casey was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes.- Early life:...
, John B Keane, J. M. Synge, Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
, James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
, Martin McDonagh
Martin McDonagh
Martin McDonagh is an Irish-British playwright, filmmaker, and screenwriter. Although he has lived in London his entire life, he is considered one of the most important living Irish playwrights.-Life:...
, Christy Brown
Christy Brown
Christy Brown was an Irish author, painter and poet who had cerebral palsy. He is most famous for his autobiography My Left Foot, which was later made into an Academy Award-winning film of the same name....
, and Brian Friel
Brian Friel
Brian Friel is an Irish dramatist, author and director of the Field Day Theatre Company. He is considered to be the greatest living English-language dramatist, hailed by the English-speaking world as an "Irish Chekhov" and "the universally accented voice of Ireland"...
.
Career
Manahan was born in County WaterfordCounty Waterford
*Abbeyside, Affane, Aglish, Annestown, An Rinn, Ardmore*Ballinacourty, Ballinameela, Ballinamult, Ballinroad, Ballybeg, Ballybricken, Ballyduff Lower, Ballyduff Upper, Ballydurn, Ballygunner, Ballylaneen, Ballymacarbry, Ballymacart, Ballynaneashagh, Ballysaggart, Ballytruckle, Bilberry, Bunmahon,...
, Ireland. Her career began when, as a young woman, she was recruited by the legendary Irish impresarios and theatrical directors Micheál MacLiammóir
Micheál MacLiammóir
Micheál Mac Liammóir , born Alfred Willmore, was an English-born Irish actor, dramatist, impresario, writer, poet and painter. Mac Liammóir was born to a Protestant family living in the Kensal Green neighbourhood of London....
and Hilton Edwards
Hilton Edwards
Hilton Edwards was an English-born Irish actor and theatrical producer. He was the son of Thomas George Cecil Edwards and Emily Edwards ....
. She later married stage director Colm O'Kelly, who died not long afterwards of polio, which he contracted after swimming in the Nile
Nile
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...
during a theatre tour of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. 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
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
' The Rose Tattoo
The Rose Tattoo
- External links :*...
and achieved unexpected notoriety when she and several other members of the cast were arrested for alleged possession of a condom on stage.
Manahan played a minor role in the Irish cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
soap opera The Riordans
The Riordans
The Riordans was the second Irish soap opera made by Raidio Telefís Éireann . It ran from 1965 to 1979 and was set in the fictional townland of Leestown in County Kilkenny...
(1960s), and as Mrs. Kenefick in the TV comedy Me Mammy
Me Mammy
Me Mammy is a British sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1968 to 1971. Starring Milo O'Shea, it was written by Hugh Leonard.-Background:Me Mammy first aired as pilot within the seventh series of the BBC's Comedy Playhouse. The pilot and first series were made in black-and-white...
(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.
The Irish R.M.
The Irish R.M. refers to a series of books by the Anglo-Irish novelists Somerville and Ross, and the television comedy-drama series based on them...
(1980s). Most recently she played Ursula on Fair City
Fair City
Fair City is an award-winning Irish television soap opera on RTÉ One. Produced by Radio Telefís Éireann, it was first broadcast on Monday, September 18, 1989...
, for which her niece, Michele Manahan (daughter of Michael Manahan
Michael Manahan
Michael Manahan was a prominent Irish civil servant, within the Department of Industry and Commerce. He played a pioneering role in all aspects of marine science and technology in Ireland spanning three decades...
), 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
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role as the Mag in Martin McDonagh
Martin McDonagh
Martin McDonagh is an Irish-British playwright, filmmaker, and screenwriter. Although he has lived in London his entire life, he is considered one of the most important living Irish playwrights.-Life:...
's The Beauty Queen of Leenane
The Beauty Queen of Leenane
The Beauty Queen of Leenane is a 1996 black comedy by Irish playwright Martin McDonagh which was premiered by the Druid Theatre Company in Galway, Ireland...
on Broadway. She previously received a Tony nomination in 1969 for Brian Friel
Brian Friel
Brian Friel is an Irish dramatist, author and director of the Field Day Theatre Company. He is considered to be the greatest living English-language dramatist, hailed by the English-speaking world as an "Irish Chekhov" and "the universally accented voice of Ireland"...
's Lovers.
The late Irish playwright John B. Keane
John B. Keane
John Brendan Keane was an Irish playwright, novelist and essayist from Listowel, County Kerry.-Life and career:...
wrote the play Big Maggie specifically for her. In 2001 she starred in Keane's The Matchmaker with veteran Irish actor Des Keogh
Des Keogh
Des Keogh is an Irish actor. He was born in 1935 in Birr, County Offaly. He was trained as a lawyer before entering the theatre in his 20s.He has toured widely in a one-man show called The Love-Hungry Farmer, an adaptation by Keogh from a work by the Irish playwright John B. Keane...
. 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
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
. In 2006 the production played at the 59e59 Theater in New York City.
She appeared in films starring, among others, Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
, Peter Cushing
Peter Cushing
Peter Wilton Cushing, OBE was an English actor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played the handsome but sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, amongst many other roles, often appearing opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally...
, Kenneth More
Kenneth More
Kenneth Gilbert More CBE was a highly successful English film actor during the post-World War II era and starred in many feature films, often in the role of an archetypal carefree and happy-go-lucky middle-class gentleman.-Early life:Kenneth More was born in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the...
, Maggie Smith
Maggie Smith
Dame Margaret Natalie Smith, DBE , better known as Maggie Smith, is an English film, stage, and television actress who made her stage debut in 1952 and is still performing after 59 years...
, Albert Finney
Albert Finney
Albert Finney is an English actor. He achieved prominence in films in the early 1960s, and has maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television....
and Brenda Fricker
Brenda Fricker
Brenda Fricker is an Irish actress of theatre, film and television. She had appeared in more than 30 films and television roles...
.
She received the Gold Medal of the Éire Society of Boston
Eire Society of Boston
The Eire Society of Boston was founded in 1937 to promote Irish culture and to bring it to a wider audience particularly in the United States. Each year the Society bestows the Gold Medal Award to individuals they feel have greatly contributed to their goals...
in 1984 and thus joined the company of past recipients such as John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, and film makers John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
and John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
. She received an honorary doctorate in letters from the University of Limerick
University of Limerick
The University of Limerick is a university in Ireland near the city of Limerick on the island's west coast. It was established in 1972 as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick and became a university by statute in 1989 in accordance with the University of Limerick Act 1989...
in 2003.
She was granted the freedom of the city of Waterford
Waterford
Waterford is a city in the South-East Region of Ireland. It is the oldest city in the country and fifth largest by population. Waterford City Council is the local government authority for the city and its immediate hinterland...
in 2002 in recognition of her life's achievement in the arts. She thus became the 28th Freeman of Waterford since Isaac Butt
Isaac Butt
Isaac Butt Q.C. M.P. was an Irish barrister, politician, Member of Parliament , and the founder and first leader of a number of Irish nationalist parties and organisations, including the Irish Metropolitan Conservative Society in 1836, the Home Government Association in 1870 and in 1873 the Home...
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, Anna Manahan became the first ever patron of Active Retirement Ireland.
Anna Manahan died of multiple organ failure on 8 March 2009.
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
- Hear My Song
- Clash of the Titans
- A Man of No Importance
- On the Edge
- Straight to Video
- Black Day at Blackrock