Denis O'Dea

Denis O'Dea (26 April 1905 – 5 November 1978) was an Irish stage and film actor.

Denis O'Dea
Denis O'Dea in 1933. Photo by Carl Van Vechten
Born	(1905-04-26)26 April 1905 Dublin, Ireland
Died	5 November 1978(1978-11-05) (aged 73) Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Years active	1935–1960
Spouse	Siobhán McKenna ​ (m. 1946)​
Children	1

He was born in Dublin and attended Synge Street CBS.^[1] When very young he and his mother Kathleen (from County Kerry) moved in with her sister, who kept a boarding house at 54 South Richmond Street.^[2] He worked in insurance until taking up acting. O'Dea was a leading member of Dublin's Abbey Theatre where he had a great acting career from 1929 to 1953; a list of his performances can be found in the Abbey archives.^[3] He also appeared in numerous plays^[4] by Irish playwright Teresa Deevy, some of which toured New York and England. His work led to a number of notable film roles, including two mid-1930s John Ford films, The Informer and The Plough and the Stars (1936), and the part of the police inspector in pursuit of IRA man James Mason in Carol Reed's Odd Man Out (1947).^[5]

Other films in which he appeared include The Mark of Cain (1947), The Fallen Idol (1948, again for Reed, and again as a police inspector), Alfred Hitchcock's Under Capricorn (1949), The Bad Lord Byron (1949), Landfall (1949), Marry Me! (1949), Disney's Treasure Island (1950), Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951), The Long Dark Hall (1951), Mogambo (1953; another John Ford film), Niagara (1953), Never Take No for an Answer (1953), The Rising of the Moon (1957), Captain Lightfoot (1957), Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959), and Esther and the King (1960).^[6]

Family

He was married to actress Siobhán McKenna from 1946 until his death in 1978 at the age of 73; they had one son, Donnacha O'Dea, who is a champion swimmer and professional poker player.^[5]

Filmography

• Guests of the Nation (1935)
• The Informer (1935) – Street Singer
• Beloved Enemy (1936) – Sean's I.R.A. Friend (uncredited)
• The Plough and the Stars (1936) – The Covey
• Odd Man Out (1947) – Inspector
• The Mark of Cain (1947) – Sir William Godgrey
• The Fallen Idol (1948) – Inspector Crowe
• The Bad Lord Byron (1949) – Prosecuting Counsel
• Marry Me! (1949) – Saunders
• Under Capricorn (1949) – Mr. Corrigan
• Landfall (1949) – Capt. Burnaby
• Treasure Island (1950) – Dr. Livesey
• The Long Dark Hall (1951) – Sir Charles Morton
• Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951) – RAdm. Sir Rodney Leighton
• Peppino e Violetta (1951) – Father Damico
• Never Take No for an Answer (1951) – Father Damico
• Niagara (1953) – Inspector Starkey
• Sea Devils (1953) – Lethierry
• Mogambo (1953) – Father Josef
• Captain Lightfoot (1955) – Regis Donnell
• The Rising of the Moon (1957) – Police Sergeant Tom O'Hara (3rd Episode)
• The Story of Esther Costello (1957) – Father Devlin
• Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959) – Father Murphy
• Esther and the King (1960) – Mordecai (final film role)

Playography

• The Reapers (1930)
• A Disciple (1931)
• Temporal Powers (1932)
• Katie Roche (1937) New York
• Katie Roche (1937) Cambridge, England
• Temporal Powers (1937)
• The King of Spain's Daughter (1938) Dublin
• The King of Spain's Daughter (1939) Cork

References

1. Butler, John. "Having sharks for breakfast". The Irish Times. Irish Times. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
2. 1911 Census returns
3. "The Abbey Theatre Archives".
4. "The Teresa Deevy Archive".
5. Boylan, Henry (1998). A Dictionary of Irish Biography, 3rd Edition. Dublin: Gill and MacMillan. p. 314. ISBN 0-7171-2945-4.
6. McGuire, James; Quinn, James (2009). Dictionary of Irish Biography. Vol. III. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy-Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521633314.

External links

• Denis O'Dea at IMDb
• Denis O'Dea at the Internet Broadway Database
• Denis O'Dea at The Teresa Deevy Archive
• Denis O'Dea at The Abbey Theatre Archive