Donal Mccann
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
"Donal had an extraordinary ability to turn a lot of personal pain into professional work. . . . he was a complicated and wonderful man." --former Abbey Theatre Joe Dowling upon hearing of McCann's death, quoted in THE IRISH TIMES, July 19, 1999
"Getting a handle on Donal is like moving smoke with a pitchfork." --an unidentified friend
Biography
Widely regarded as the greatest Irish actor of the latter half of the 20th Century, Donal McCann was predominantly known for his stage career wherein he emerged as a major interpreter of the works of his countrymen including Samuel Beckett, Sean O'Casey, Sebastian Barry and, most importantly, Brian Friel. And as with other actors whose major focus was the theater, he amassed only a small, if memorable, body of work in films and television.
Born and raised in Dublin, McCann was the son of politician and playwright John J McCann (who twice served as Lord Mayor of Dublin) and his former schoolteacher wife. After a brief go at studying architecture, he worked as a copy boy for the EVENING PRESS while taking acting lessons and performing in amateur theatricals and in bit parts at the Abbey Theatre. When he began getting speaking roles at the Abbey--and reviews in the newspapers--McCann was forced to quit his day job. Concentrating on his burgeoning career, he went on to achieve notoriety playing the mythic Irish hero Cuchulainn in W.B. Yeats' "On Baile Strand" in 1966. That same year, McCann entered films playing a prisoner in the Disney adventure "The Fighting Prince of Donegal." Three years later, he garnered widespread attention playing Estragon to Peter O'Toole's Vladimir in Beckett's modern classic "Waiting for Godot." Over the next three decades, although he battled the twin demons of depression and alcoholism, McCann turned in one well-praised turn after another. In 1971, he cut a dashing Jean to Helen Mirren's "Miss Julie" (a production that was filmed for the BBC) and went on to distinguished work in O'Casey's "The Plough and the Stars" and "Juno and the Paycock." He also triumphed in a reinterpretation of the lead in Brian Friel's play "Faith Healer" in 1980, a watermark in fruitful collaboration that also included "Translations" (1988) and "Wonderful Tennessee" (1993). In what was to be his final stage role, McCann offered a mesmerizing, beautifully realized turn as a senile police officer in Sebastian Barry's "The Steward of Christendom" (1995-97), which caused NEWSWEEK to hail him as "a world-class star," the NEW YORK OBSERVER to declaim his work as "a performance of unarguable greatness" and THE NEW YORK TIMES to refer to him as "the astonishing Irish actor . . . widely regarded as the finest of them all."
Between these acclaimed theatrical turns, McCann managed to squeeze in roles in films and TV. The actor, who eschewed stardom and reportedly turned down offers from Hollywood, offered a fine portrayal of a man who unwittingly befriends a highwayman (John Hurt) in John Huston's "Sinful Davey" (1969) and proved effective as the dashing Phineas Finn in the 1974 BBC production "The Pallisers" (broadcast in the USA on PBS in 1977). In 1982, Neil Jordan tapped the actor to play a corrupt cop in "Angel" and Pat O'Connor used him effectively as the father of the title character in "Cal" (1984), a drama set against the backdrop of the Catholic-Protestant "troubles" in Northern Ireland. Huston once again offered McCann a terrific part--in this case what many feel is the best screen work the actor did--playing Gabriel Conroy, the husband who comes to realize that his wife Gretta (Anjelica Huston) never loved him. Without any histrionics, he conveyed a full range of emotions that this revelation sparks.
In another literary adaptation. "December Bride" (1990; released in the USA in 1994), McCann and Ciaran Hinds played brothers who fell in love with the same woman (Saskia Reeves) and form a menage-a-trois that shocks their small community. He was superb as the drunken father of a teenager whose lives are disrupted by the arrival of a mysterious actress (Beverly D'Angelo) in Neil Jordan's "The Miracle" (1991). He went on to portray an Irish painter with whom a teenaged girl (Liv Tyler) visits in Bernardo Bertolucci's "Stealing Beauty" (1996) and the Irish uncle of a mixed race American (Hill Harper) in "The Nephew" (1998). McCann's final film role reteamed him with Beverly D'Angelo as turn-of-the-century husband and wife theater owners in John Turturro's paean to acting "Illuminata" (released in 1999).
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Life Events
1962
Acted in "Give Me a Bed of Roses", a ply by his father at Terenure College
1966
Had early stage success in W B Yeats' "On Baile Strand", portraying the Irish mythic hero Cuchulainn
1966
Feature acting debut as a prisoner in "The Fighting Prince of Donegal"
1968
Enjoyed success in staging of Dion Boucicault's "The Shaughraun" at the Abbey Theatre and in London
1969
First screen collaboration with John Huston, "Sinful Davey"
1969
Starred opposite Peter O'Toole in "Waiting for Godot" at the Abbey Theatre
1970
Played dual roles in the screen adaptation of Brian Friel's "Philadelphia, Here I Come!"
1971
Cast as Jean to Helen Mirren's "Miss Julie"; production filmed for the BBC
1971
Appeared on the London stage opposite Anthony Sher in "Prayer for My Daughter"
1974
Played featured role of Phineas Finn in the BBC production "The Pallisers"; broadcast in the USA on PBS in 1977
1980
Returned to the Irish stage in Brian Friel's "Faith Healer"
1982
Initial screen collaboration with Neil Jordan, "Angel"
1984
Portrayed the title character's father in "Cal"
1987
Had what is arguably his best screen role as Gabriel Conroy, Anjelica Huston's husband, in "The Dead", directed by John Huston from the James Joyce short story
1988
Starred in Friel's "Translations" at the Gaiety Theatre
1988
Reteamed with Jordan for the ill-advised "High Spirits"; first collaboration with Beverly D'Angelo
1988
Appeared in NYC in revival of "Juno and the Paycock"
1990
Garnered praise as one of two brothers who both fall in love with the same woman in "December Bride"
1991
Co-starred with Beverly D'Angelo in Jordan's "The Miracle"
1993
Supported Fiona Shaw, playing Judge Brack to her "Hedda Gabler" in a BBC production; aired in USA on PBS
1993
Headlined the short-lived Broadway production of Friel's "Wonderful Tennessee"
1995
Earned widespread critical praise for his performance as an elderly Irish policeman in Sebastian Barry's play "The Steward of Christendom"
1996
Co-starred in Bernardo Bertolucci's "Stealing Beauty"
1998
Reteamed with Beverly D'Angelo as the husband and wife operators of a turn-of-the-century theater in John Turturro's "Illuminata"; released posthumously in the USA in 1999
1998
Was subject of Irish TV documentary "It Must Be DOne Right"
Videos
Trailer
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
"Donal had an extraordinary ability to turn a lot of personal pain into professional work. . . . he was a complicated and wonderful man." --former Abbey Theatre Joe Dowling upon hearing of McCann's death, quoted in THE IRISH TIMES, July 19, 1999
"Getting a handle on Donal is like moving smoke with a pitchfork." --an unidentified friend
On his career: "Life is a much better word because that's what it is in the end. You can't separate the actor from the person." --Donal McCann
"My method? Read, read, read, read, read, read. Trust the play. Everything is there in what's on the page though you must try and find what's behind the words too." --Donal McCann quoted in THE NEW YORK TIMES, January 19, 1997
"The accomplishment is more important than the reception. Endeavor is what matters. Using your talent is what matters. And since what finally matters is being with God, shouldn't you try to live your life in the light of the ultimate?" --McCann to THE NEW YORK TIMES, January 19, 1997
"I mean every gift takes on the appearance of a curse. I know it sounds big-headed, but you live a life and things happen. Then you discover you're quite good at something, and the work becomes much more important than simply what it means to you. For the moment, you can't argue with that, because it's been given to you by God and you;ve got to do it. . . . The trying is truly the most important thing, more than the achieving; the effort is what counts." --Donal McCann to Patrick Pacheco in NEWSDAY, January 19, 1997
