Cyril Cusack
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Bibliography
Notes
Received the English Tatler Radio Critics Award for "The Dark Tower" (1954).
Awarded the Sylvania Television Citation for "The Moon and the Sixpence" (1959).
Biography
Gifted Irish stage performer, born in South Africa who made his film debut in 1917's "Knocknagow," but did not come into his own as a strong screen character actor until 1947 with Carol Reed's "Odd Man Out." With his quirky features, playful authority and an elfin face that sometimes registers melancholy or stern morality, Cusack most often portrayed clerics ("My Left Foot" 1989) but in "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" (1965), he played the spy chief and in Truffaut's "Fahrenheit 451" (1966), the book-burning fire chief. One of the most acclaimed stage actors of his generation, Cusack was famous for his association with Ireland's national theater, the Abbey; he was at various times also affiliated with Old Vic and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Cusack also performed on Broadway, as in the memorable 1957 staging of Eugene O'Neill's "A Moon for the Misbegotten" in which he starred opposite Wendy Hiller. Active in theatre administration and production as well, he managed the Gaity Theater in Dublin for a while in the 1940s and founded his own Cyril Cusack Productions in 1944. He is the father of actresses Sinead, Niamh and Sorcha Cusack with whom he co-starred in the 1990 Gate Theater of Dublin's production of "The Three Sisters."
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1916
State acting debut in "East Lynne" in Clonmel, Ireland
1917
Film acting debut, "Knocknagow/The Homes of Tipperary" (Film Company of Ireland)
1932
Joined the Abbey theater, appearing in 65 plays in 13 years
1935
Producer with Gaelic Players
1935
First US sound film, "Late Extra"
1936
London stage debut, "Ah, Wilderness!"
1938
BBC TV debut, "The Shadow of the Glenn"
1942
Stage directing and writing debut, "Tareis an Aifrinn/After Mass" at the Gate Theater, Dublin
1944
Managed the Gaity Theater, Dublin
1944
Stage producing debut, "Romeo and Juliet", Dublin
1957
Broadway debut, "A Moon for the Misbegotten"
1963
Joined the RSC
1964
Joined the Old Vic
1990
Starred with his three daughters (Sinead, Niamh and Sorcha) in the Gate Theater of Dublin's production of "The Three Sisters"
Videos
Movie Clip
Trailer
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
Received the English Tatler Radio Critics Award for "The Dark Tower" (1954).
Awarded the Sylvania Television Citation for "The Moon and the Sixpence" (1959).
He was given the International Critics Award for "Arms and the Man" and "Krapp's Last Tape" (1961).
Received a honorary LL.D degree, honoris causa, from the National University of Ireland (1977) and an Honorary D. Litt from the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland (1982)
