Siobhán McKenna

Siobhán McKenna (; 24 May 1922 – 16 November 1986) was an Irish stage and screen actress.

thumb|[[Walter Slezak and Siobhán McKenna from the 1960 presentation "Woman in White" on the anthology programme Dow Hour of Great Mysteries]]

Early life

She was born Siobhán Giollamhuire Nic Chionnaith in Belfast in the newly created Northern Ireland into a Catholic and nationalist family.

Career

She is remembered for her English language performances at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin where she would eventually star in what many consider her finest role in the George Bernard Shaw play, Saint Joan. Until 1970 they lived in Richmond Street South, Dublin. They had one child, a son: Donnacha O'Dea, who swam for Ireland at the 1968 Summer Olympics and later won a World Series of Poker bracelet in 1998. In 1956, she appeared in the Cambridge Drama Festival production of Saint Joan at the Off-Broadway Phoenix Theatre. Theatre critic Elliot Norton called her performance the finest portrayal of Joan in memory. Siobhán McKenna's popularity earned her the cover of Life on 10 September 1956. In 1957, she joined the acting company of the Stratford Festival in Canada, playing Viola in Twelfth Night. She received a second Tony Best Actress nomination for her role in the 1958 play The Rope Dancers, in which she starred with Art Carney and Joan Blondell. Although primarily a stage actress, McKenna appeared in a number of made-for-television films and dramas. She also appeared in several motion pictures such as King of Kings in 1961, as Virgin Mary. In 1964, she performed in Of Human Bondage and the following year in Doctor Zhivago.

McKenna was awarded the Gold Medal of the Éire Society of Boston, for having "significantly fulfilled the ideals of the Éire Society, in particular, spreading awareness of the cultural achievements of the Irish people". Her body was buried at Rahoon Cemetery in County Galway. The inscription on the grave is in Irish.

In 1988, two years after her death, she was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. The Siobhán McKenna Theatre, named in her honour, is in Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich in Belfast, the city of her birth.

The Siobhán McKenna Archive, documenting her life, is held in the Hardiman Library, University of Galway.

Filmography

Film

{| class="wikitable"

!style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year

!style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Title

!style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role

!style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes

|1947|| Hungry Hill || Kate Donovan ||

|1948|| Daughter of Darkness || Emily Beaudine ||

|1949|| The Lost People || Marie ||

|1951|| The Adventurers || Anne Hunter ||

|1961|| King of Kings || Mary ||

|1963|| The Playboy of the Western World || Pegeen Mike ||

|1964|| Of Human Bondage || Nora Nesbitt ||

|1965|| Doctor Zhivago || Anna ||

|1970|| Philadelphia, Here I Come || Madge ||

|1984|| Memed, My Hawk || Iroz ||

Television

{| class="wikitable"

!style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year

!style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Title

!style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role

!style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes

|1956

|Producers' Showcase

|Leslie Crosbie

|Episode: "The Letter"

|1979|| Tales of The Unexpected || The Landlady (Title role) || Episode: "The Landlady"

|1981|| Tales of The Unexpected || Mrs Grady || Episode: "Vicious Circle"

|1984|| The Last Days of Pompeii (miniseries) || Fortunata ||

Recorded audio

LP Records

James Joyce - Ulysses (novel) : Soliloquies of Molly and Leopold Bloom (With E. G. Marshall). 1960. Caedmon Records TC 1068. (Side One : Molly Bloom (McKenna); SideTwo : Leopold Bloom (Marshall).