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Milo O'Shea 1926 - 2013

Milo O'Shea was born on June 2, 1926 in Dublin, County Dublin Ireland, and died at age 86 years old on April 2, 2013 in New York, New York United States. Milo O'Shea was buried on April 10, 2013 at Deansgrange Cemetery Deans Grange, County Dublin, Ireland in Dublin County Ireland.

Milo O'Shea

June 2, 1926

Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

April 2, 2013

New York, New York, United States

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Milo O'Shea Milo O'Shea (1926 - 2013)

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Milo O'Shea's History: 1926 - 2013

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Introduction

Milo O'Shea Born June 2, 1926 in Dublin, Irish Free State [now Ireland] Died April 2, 2013 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA (complications from Alzheimer's disease) Birth Name Milo Donal O'Shea Milo O'Shea was born on June 2, 1926 in Dublin, Irish Free State as Milo Donal O'Shea. He was an actor, known for Barbarella (1968), Romeo and Juliet (1968) and The Verdict (1982). He was married to Kitty O'Sullivan and Maureen Toal. He died on April 2, 2013 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. Kitty O'Sullivan (27 March 1974 - 2 April 2013) ( his death) Maureen Toal (1951 - 1974) ( divorced) ( 1 child) Expressive black, bushy eyebrows Educated by the Christian Brothers in Dublin. Married to Irish actress Kitty Sullivan with whom he appeared in a production of "My Fair Lady". Father of Steven O'Shea. Classmate of actor Donal Donnelly in grade school. (GREAT ACTOR TOO!!!) Was twice nominated for Broadway's Tony Award: in 1968 as Best Actor (Dramatic) for "Staircase" and in 1982 as Best Actor (Play) or "Mass Appeal." His mother was a harpist and ballet dancer, his father half of a singing duo. Full-time actor from the age of seventeen. Found little theatrical employment during his first stint in the U.S. and was forced to make ends meet working as an elevator operator at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. He consequently returned to Ireland where he found critical success on stage as Leopold Bloom in James Joyce's Ulysses (1967). The band Duran Duran was named after his character in the movie Barbarella. .
06/2

1926

Birthday

June 2, 1926

Birthdate

Dublin, County Dublin Ireland

Birthplace

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Ethnicity & Family History

IRISH.
Nationality & Locations

Dublin and New York City.
Early Life & Education

Educated by the Christian Brothers in Dublin. Classmate of Donal Donnelly.
Professional Career

The public knew O'Shea best as a character actor. His bushy eyebrows and white hair made him a favorite of casting directors looking for priests. He played a drunken one on the TV show Cheers, a pedophilic one in the 1997 film The Butcher Boy, a charming one in the 1981 Broadway play Mass Appeal, as well as the tragedy-enabling Friar Laurence in Romeo and Juliet. He was a judge in the Paul Newman film The Verdict. His loony turn as the pleasure-obsessed scientist Durand Durand in the 1968 science fiction romp Barbarella inspired a British rock group to name its band after his character. Duran Duran also put him in a concert video. O'Shea moved to the USA in the mid-1970s and was a longtime resident of New York.
Personal Life & Family

Milo O'Shea was very nice to meet. He was friends with Donal Donnelly and Angela Lansbury. I was fortunate enough to meet all three of them.
04/2

2013

Death

April 2, 2013

Death date

Unknown
Cause of death

New York, New York United States
Death location

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04/10

2013

Gravesite & Burial

April 10, 2013

Funeral date
Deansgrange Cemetery Deans Grange, County Dublin, Ireland in Dublin County Ireland
Burial location
Obituary

Milo O’Shea, an Actor of the Stage and Screen, Dies at 86 By Douglas Martin April 3, 2013 Milo O’Shea, an Irish character actor — recognizable by his black bushy eyebrows, a tumble of white hair, and impish smile — whose films included “Ulysses,” “Barbarella” and “The Verdict,” died on Tuesday in Manhattan. He was 86. His death was confirmed by James Deenihan, the arts minister of Ireland. The cause was complications of Alzheimer’s disease, said a friend, Turlough McConnell. In addition to his scores of film roles, Mr. O’Shea appeared on American sitcoms like “The Golden Girls,” “Cheers” and “Frasier” and played the chief justice of the Supreme Court on “The West Wing.” He was twice nominated for Tony Awards. The first time was for his debut performance on Broadway, in the 1968 production of “Staircase,” in which he and Eli Wallach played gay, middle-aged hairdressers in a relationship not much different from many troubled heterosexual marriages. The play, while not commercially successful, came to be regarded as one of the first serious depictions of homosexuality on Broadway. That same year he played the kindly Friar Laurence in Franco Zeffirelli’s resplendent film adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet” and the mad scientist Durand Durand in Roger Vadim’s “Barbarella,” a science-fiction fantasy set in the far future, in which he tries to make the comely astronaut Barbarella (Jane Fonda) die of pleasure. A decade later a group of rock musicians in Birmingham, England, named their new band Duran Duran — dropping the final d’s — in honor of Mr. O’Shea’s character. A popular nightclub where the group played was called Barbarella’s. When Duran Duran made a concert video in 1984, “Arena (An Absurd Notion),” Mr. O’Shea appeared in it dressed as his “Barbarella” character. Mr. O’Shea first attained wide visibility as Leopold Bloom in Joseph Strick’s movie “Ulysses” (1967), based on the James Joyce novel. “Milo O’Shea is perfect as a fortyish, black-haired Bloom, bright-eyed when fun and lust are rising, flaccid and pathetic when rebuffed,” Bosley Crowther wrote in The New York Times. Milo O’Shea was a priest in the 1981 play “Mass Appeal.” In 1981, on Broadway, he played a duplicitous, charming, Mercedes-driving priest in “Mass Appeal,” receiving his second Tony nomination. On television, he was at the center of events in the 1992 episode of “Cheers” in which Woody, the bartender (Woody Harrelson), marries his girlfriend, Kelly (Jackie Swanson). He played an anti-marriage minister who could perform the ceremony only if drunk. He succeeded. In the 1982 film “The Verdict,” starring Paul Newman as a washed-up lawyer, Mr. O’Shea played a biased judge. Milo O’Shea was born in Dublin on June 2, 1926. His father was in a professional singing duo, and his mother was a harpist and ballet dancer. They both encouraged him to pursue his dream of acting. At 10 he starred in a radio adaptation of “Oliver Twist.” By 17 he was a full-time actor in a touring company. Two years later he joined one of Ireland’s major theatrical troupes and performed in plays by Shakespeare, Chekhov, Ibsen and Molière. He then came to the United States and found work in regional theater. But after strained finances forced him to work as an elevator operator at the Waldorf-Astoria, he returned to Ireland. He had success there and in England, and rode the wave of his “Ulysses” success to return to Manhattan, where he lived for many years. Mr. O’Shea’s first marriage, to Maureen Toal, ended in divorce. He is survived by his wife, Kitty Sullivan; his sons, Colm and Steven; and three grandchildren. Mr. O’Shea once said he hoped to be known as more than “the Irishman with the eyebrows.” But he allowed that it didn’t really matter if he was. “If you’re thinking about your eyebrows when you’re acting,” he said, “you’re not acting properly.” A version of this article appears in print on April 4, 2013, Section A, Page 18 of the New York edition with the headline: Milo O’Shea, 86, an Actor Of the Stage and Screen. Milo O'Shea passed away on April 2, 2013 in New York, New York at 86 years of age. He was born on June 2, 1926 in Dublin, County Dublin Ireland.

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