Donal Donnelly

Donal Donnelly Donal Donnelly was an Irish actor best known in the cinema for roles in The Knack... and How to Get It (1965) and The Godfather: Part III (1990) and on stage for his work in the plays of Brian Friel. He was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, on July 6, 1931, but raised in Dublin, Ireland. In Dublin, he went to a Christian Brothers School where he acted in school plays with classmates Jack MacGowran and Milo O'Shea. Subsequently, he toured Ireland with Anew McMaster's repertory company. On-stage, he established professional reputation in 1964 playing Gar Private in the Friel's Philadelphia, Here I Come (1977) at Dublin's Gate Theatre. He was nominated for a Tony Award when the show transferred to Broadway in 1966, where it was a hit, racking up 326 performances. Two years later, he replaced Albert Finney in the 1968 Broadway production of A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1972). From 1969 through 1995, he appeared in an additional nine Broadway productions, including Sleuth (1972) and The Elephant Man (1980), and Friel's "The Mundy Scheme", Dancing at Lughnasa (1998), and "Translations". In 1965, he co-starred with Michael Crawford and Rita Tushingham in Richard Lester's movie adaption of Ann Jellicoe's hit play "The Knack". It was a hit. He played the scheming Archbishop Gilday out to fleece Michael Corleone (Al Pacino)in "The Godfather Part III" and gave a critically acclaimed performance in John Huston's adaption of James Joyce's short story The Dead (1987). He also appeared on British television, most memorably in Z Cars (1962) and the 1970s situation-comedy Yes, Honestly (1976). Donal Donnelly died from cancer on January 4, 2010 in Chicago. He was 78 years old. He and his wife Patsy had two children. Spouse (1) Patricia (Patsy) Porter (? - 4 January 2010) ( his death) ( 2 children) Trivia (4) Attended the same Christian Brothers grade school as actor Milo O'Shea in Dublin. (Imet both of them.) Was nominated for Broadway's 1966 Tony Award as Best Actor (Dramatic) for Brian Friel's "Philadelphia, Here I Come!" (He was stupendous.) He specialized in portraying a variety of Irish characters on stage and screen, particularly in the plays of Brian Friel. Donnelly recounted this story in his dressing room on Broadway before a performance of The Elephant Man, in an interview with Marlene Aig of the AP. I was her friend, and she brought me along, and I enjoyed an hour in the company of this witty, charming, versatile actor. While filming "Waterloo", Donnelly had an interesting misadventure: he was stranded on location in Siberia. The production had been filming the fall of Napoleon's army in the Russian winter, and the Russian army was being played by real members of the Russian army. The passports of non-Russian cast and crew had been confiscated upon arrival, and were to be returned to them for their departure. On the day they were to be flown out - all non-Russian cast, crew, and equipment, on planes rented by the production - it was discovered that Donal Donnelly's passport had gone missing, and was not in the pile with the others. The passports had been kept in the office of the local Commissar of the Communist party, and he was away for a few days on a fishing trip. His staff could not possibly pry open the locks of his private desk or cupboards to search (wouldn't want to be in trouble with the Party, especially back then), and Donnelly would have to wait until the Commissar's return! Donnelly had to stand there and wave as all his mates from the location shoot boarded, and the plane lifted into the air and disappeared. And the wind howled around him... If it hadn't been so cold, there would have been - Crickets... When the Commissar finally returned, the passport was found in his office - it had somehow fallen out of the pile with the others. Donnelly had to take a slow train from Siberia to Moscow - the kind of train shown in movies, that stops at every village where someone has put out a flag to board a passenger. To show off their effectiveness, at every stop a Communist official from the village would board the train and "inspect" - single out passengers at random, and make them open their bags and let him paw through their things. Since most of the passengers on *this* train were the returning Russian army, Donnelly was the 'random' passenger chosen at every stop. By the time he finally arrived in Moscow (I can't remember if it was 1-2 weeks later), he couldn't wait to get out and get home - probably never to return again. Like most adventures, it made a great story afterwards, but was not much fun while he lived it.