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T. P. McKenna

January 01, 1970

This article is about the Irish actor. For the American army officer and author, see Thomas P. McKenna.

Thomas Patrick McKenna (7 September 1929 – 13 February 2011)[1][2][3] was an Irish actor, born in Mullagh, County Cavan. He had an extensive stage and screen career.

T. P. McKenna
Born
Thomas Patrick McKenna

(1929-09-07)7 September 1929
Mullagh, County Cavan, Ireland
Died13 February 2011(2011-02-13) (aged 81)
Hampstead, London, England
OccupationActor
Years active1953–2009
Spouse
May White
​
​
(m. 1956; died 2007)​
Children5

Career edit

Early years edit

Thomas Patrick McKenna was born at Mullagh, County Cavan, Ireland, in 1929 and educated at Mullagh School and St Patrick's College, Cavan.[4] He was the eldest of ten children of Raphael McKenna, an auctioneer and merchant, and his wife Mae.[4] There he became a protégé of Fr. Vincent Kennedy, who featured him in the annual productions of Gilbert & Sullivan operas. He was a noted treble and sang in Cavan Cathedral, but later would also become a keen member of the school's Gaelic Football squad, representing St Patrick's in the final of the All Ireland colleges competition in 1948.

After leaving school he joined the Ulster Bank in Granard, Co Longford, and worked in banking for the next five years. However, he remained set on becoming an actor and when he received a posting to Dublin he soon made a mark on the city's amateur scene appearing with the Rathmines and Rathgar Musical Society, and the Dublin Shakespeare Society. His employers were not impressed by his extracurricular activities, and in 1953 he was posted to the remote town of Killeshandra in County Cavan. McKenna refused to go and resigned his position.

Stage edit

McKenna made his stage debut at the Pike Theatre in Dublin in 1953 as John Buchanan in Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke. He played a season at the Gaiety Theatre with Anew McMaster's Shakespearean company, and was a member of The Gas Theatre Company directed by Godfrey Quigley.

Through family contacts, he sought an interview with the managing director of the Abbey Theatre, Ernest Blythe. Despite Blythe's concerns that "his nose was too long, and he would grow fat",[5] he eventually became a permanent member of the company in 1954 and would remain there for the next eight years, performing over seventy roles.

In 1963, he secured a short leave of absence to go to London (St. Martin's Theatre) with the Gate Theatre's production of Stephen D, an adaptation of Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by Hugh Leonard which had been a hit of the 1962 Dublin Theatre Festival. The play was well received by the London critics, leading to offers of further other stage work there including "O'Keefe" in J. P. Donleavy's The Ginger Man (Ashcroft, Croydon), Lindsay Anderson's revival of Julius Caesar (1964) for the English Stage Company and 1965 as the Burglar (Aubrey "Popsy" Bagot) in Shaw's Too True to be Good (Garrick) opposite Alistair Sim and George Cole.

He had not left the Irish stage behind entirely however and would make regular appearances at the Dublin Theatre Festival in A Little Winter Love, Pull Down A Horseman, King of the Castle and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.

He joined Stuart Burge's company at the Nottingham Playhouse in 1968 playing Trigorin in The Seagull and Sir Joseph Surface in Sheridan's The School For Scandal, both directed by Jonathan Miller. In 1969, he created the role of Fitzpatrick in David Storey's The Contractor directed by Lindsay Anderson at the Royal Court Theatre, London. The production later transferred to the Fortune Theatre and ran for over a year. In 1973, he took on the role of Andrew Wyke opposite his friend Donal Donnelly in the Irish premiere of Peter Shaffer's Sleuth. The production played to acclaim at the Opera House, Cork, and at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin where it broke box office records.

Later that year he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and took over the role of Robert Hand in James Joyce's only play, Exiles directed by Harold Pinter. In the same season he also appeared in a rare staging of Jean Genet's The Balcony directed by Terry Hands.

He returned to the RSC in 1976 for Shaw's The Devil's Disciple, directed by Jack Gold in a production to mark the American bicentennial celebrations, as the revolutionary pastor Reverend Anthony Anderson.

In the late 1980s and 1990s, he returned to the Dublin stage when he was invited by director Michael Colgan to join the Gate Theatre on a number of occasions, including admired productions of Uncle Vanya, The Cherry Orchard and No Man's Land. It was there he created the role of Dr Rice in Brian Friel's drama, Molly Sweeney (1994), and again at London's Almeida Theatre. Other Friel productions he appeared in were The Communication Cord (Hampstead Theatre, 1984) and Aristocrats (2004) at the RNT in his final stage appearance.

McKenna directed on occasion, and had to his name productions of John Millington Synge's The Playboy of the Western World (Nottingham Playhouse, 1968), Thomas Kilroy's The Death and Resurrection of Mr Roche (Abbey Theatre, 1973) and Seán O'Casey's The Shadow of A Gunman (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 1980).

Film and television edit

During the 1960s and 1970s, McKenna appeared regularly in popular television dramas, including The Avengers (1964, 1965, 1968), Danger Man (1965), The Saint (1966, 1968), Adam Adamant Lives! (1967), Jason King (1972), two episodes of Thriller (1973 and 1976), The Sweeney (1975), Blake's 7 (1978), Minder (1984) and Doctor Who (the serial The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (1988–89)).

He played Richmond in the Thames Television series Callan (1972) and made ten appearances in Crown Court (1974–1982), mainly as barrister Patrick Canty, while also appearing in the popular ATV anthology drama series Love Story (1965–1968). He also featured prominently in other television dramas including The Duchess of Malfi (1972), Napoleon and Love (1974), The Changeling (1974), Fathers and Families (1977), Holocaust (1978), the Blake's 7 episode "Bounty" (1978), The Manions of America (1981), To the Lighthouse (1983), The Scarlet and the Black (1983), Bleak House (1985), Strong Medicine (1986), The Play on One: Unreported Incident (1988), Jack the Ripper (1988), Shoot to Kill (1990), TV series Lovejoy - Irish Stew (1993), and the final episode of Inspector Morse - The Remorseful Day (2000).

He had prominent film roles in Ulysses (1967), and A Portrait of the Artist As A Young Man (1977). Other film credits include The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968), Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), Perfect Friday (1970), Villain (1971), Straw Dogs (1971), All Creatures Great and Small (1975), Memed, My Hawk (1984), Pascali's Island (1988), A Caribbean Mystery (1989), Monarch (2000) and The Libertine (2004).

He narrated the Emmy award-winning documentary on the life of James Joyce Is There One Who Understands Me (RTÉ).

His performance as Henry VIII in the film Monarch was re-released in cinemas in 2014.

Radio and Audiobooks edit

McKenna's wonderfully rich voice featured in over thirty original drama productions for the BBC and the World Service along with readings of short stories and poetry for a variety of programmes. He took the role of Phonsie Doherty in Christopher Fitz‑Simon's Radio 4 comedy series, Ballylenon, and later appeared opposite David Threlfall in the radio drama Baldi. On CD and download he has recorded the audiobooks poetry of W. B. Yeats, Joyce's short story collection Dubliners and Somerville and Ross's Tales of an Irish R.M.

Personal life edit

McKenna was married to May White, literally the girl next door, from 1956 until her death in 2007.[4] They had five children. His son Breffni McKenna had a long running role in the UK TV soap Crossroads and appeared in the 1992 movie The Crying Game.

Death edit

McKenna died on 13 February 2011 at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, London, at the age of 81 following a long period of illness. He was buried alongside his wife at Teampall Cheallaigh Cemetery in his native County Cavan.[6]

Following his death, tributes were paid by President of Ireland Mary McAleese, Prince Charles, and Ireland's Culture Minister Mary Hanafin, who said that McKenna was "one of a great generation whose talents on the screen and stage both at home and abroad gave us all great pride in his accomplishments". In County Cavan, he is commemorated by the T. P. McKenna Drama Scholarships (VEC) and the T. P. McKenna Perpetual Trophy presented as part of the Millrace Annual Drama Festival.[7]

Selected filmography edit

References edit

  1. ^ Olivia Kelly "'Irascible' actor TP McKenna dies in London, aged 81", Irish Times, 15 February 2011.
  2. ^ TP McKenna obituary Guardian, 16 February 2011.
  3. ^ The many faces of TP McKenna Irish Times, 19 February 2011.
  4. ^ a b c "McKenna, Thomas Patrick ('T. P.')". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  5. ^ Dowling, Vincent (2001). Astride the Moon: A Theatrical Life. Wolfhound. ISBN 978-0863278280.
  6. ^ Sweeney, Ken (28 February 2011). "Late TP McKenna a 'true son of Mullagh'". Irish Independent. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  7. ^ T. P. McKenna site

External links edit

  • T. P. McKenna at IMDb
  • 'T. P. McKenna – Official website'
  • Daily Telegraph obituary
  • The Guardian obituary
  • The Independent obituary

January 01, 1970
mckenna, this, article, about, irish, actor, american, army, officer, author, thomas, mckenna, thomas, patrick, mckenna, september, 1929, february, 2011, irish, actor, born, mullagh, county, cavan, extensive, stage, screen, career, bornthomas, patrick, mckenna. This article is about the Irish actor For the American army officer and author see Thomas P McKenna Thomas Patrick McKenna 7 September 1929 13 February 2011 1 2 3 was an Irish actor born in Mullagh County Cavan He had an extensive stage and screen career T P McKennaBornThomas Patrick McKenna 1929 09 07 7 September 1929Mullagh County Cavan IrelandDied13 February 2011 2011 02 13 aged 81 Hampstead London EnglandOccupationActorYears active1953 2009SpouseMay White m 1956 died 2007 wbr Children5 Contents 1 Career 1 1 Early years 1 2 Stage 1 3 Film and television 1 4 Radio and Audiobooks 2 Personal life 3 Death 4 Selected filmography 5 References 6 External linksCareer editEarly years edit Thomas Patrick McKenna was born at Mullagh County Cavan Ireland in 1929 and educated at Mullagh School and St Patrick s College Cavan 4 He was the eldest of ten children of Raphael McKenna an auctioneer and merchant and his wife Mae 4 There he became a protege of Fr Vincent Kennedy who featured him in the annual productions of Gilbert amp Sullivan operas He was a noted treble and sang in Cavan Cathedral but later would also become a keen member of the school s Gaelic Football squad representing St Patrick s in the final of the All Ireland colleges competition in 1948 After leaving school he joined the Ulster Bank in Granard Co Longford and worked in banking for the next five years However he remained set on becoming an actor and when he received a posting to Dublin he soon made a mark on the city s amateur scene appearing with the Rathmines and Rathgar Musical Society and the Dublin Shakespeare Society His employers were not impressed by his extracurricular activities and in 1953 he was posted to the remote town of Killeshandra in County Cavan McKenna refused to go and resigned his position Stage edit McKenna made his stage debut at the Pike Theatre in Dublin in 1953 as John Buchanan in Tennessee Williams Summer and Smoke He played a season at the Gaiety Theatre with Anew McMaster s Shakespearean company and was a member of The Gas Theatre Company directed by Godfrey Quigley Through family contacts he sought an interview with the managing director of the Abbey Theatre Ernest Blythe Despite Blythe s concerns that his nose was too long and he would grow fat 5 he eventually became a permanent member of the company in 1954 and would remain there for the next eight years performing over seventy roles In 1963 he secured a short leave of absence to go to London St Martin s Theatre with the Gate Theatre s production of Stephen D an adaptation of Joyce s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by Hugh Leonard which had been a hit of the 1962 Dublin Theatre Festival The play was well received by the London critics leading to offers of further other stage work there including O Keefe in J P Donleavy s The Ginger Man Ashcroft Croydon Lindsay Anderson s revival of Julius Caesar 1964 for the English Stage Company and 1965 as the Burglar Aubrey Popsy Bagot in Shaw s Too True to be Good Garrick opposite Alistair Sim and George Cole He had not left the Irish stage behind entirely however and would make regular appearances at the Dublin Theatre Festival in A Little Winter Love Pull Down A Horseman King of the Castle and Who s Afraid of Virginia Woolf He joined Stuart Burge s company at the Nottingham Playhouse in 1968 playing Trigorin in The Seagull and Sir Joseph Surface in Sheridan s The School For Scandal both directed by Jonathan Miller In 1969 he created the role of Fitzpatrick in David Storey s The Contractor directed by Lindsay Anderson at the Royal Court Theatre London The production later transferred to the Fortune Theatre and ran for over a year In 1973 he took on the role of Andrew Wyke opposite his friend Donal Donnelly in the Irish premiere of Peter Shaffer s Sleuth The production played to acclaim at the Opera House Cork and at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin where it broke box office records Later that year he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and took over the role of Robert Hand in James Joyce s only play Exiles directed by Harold Pinter In the same season he also appeared in a rare staging of Jean Genet s The Balcony directed by Terry Hands He returned to the RSC in 1976 for Shaw s The Devil s Disciple directed by Jack Gold in a production to mark the American bicentennial celebrations as the revolutionary pastor Reverend Anthony Anderson In the late 1980s and 1990s he returned to the Dublin stage when he was invited by director Michael Colgan to join the Gate Theatre on a number of occasions including admired productions of Uncle Vanya The Cherry Orchard and No Man s Land It was there he created the role of Dr Rice in Brian Friel s drama Molly Sweeney 1994 and again at London s Almeida Theatre Other Friel productions he appeared in were The Communication Cord Hampstead Theatre 1984 and Aristocrats 2004 at the RNT in his final stage appearance McKenna directed on occasion and had to his name productions of John Millington Synge s The Playboy of the Western World Nottingham Playhouse 1968 Thomas Kilroy s The Death and Resurrection of Mr Roche Abbey Theatre 1973 and Sean O Casey s The Shadow of A Gunman Crucible Theatre Sheffield 1980 Film and television edit During the 1960s and 1970s McKenna appeared regularly in popular television dramas including The Avengers 1964 1965 1968 Danger Man 1965 The Saint 1966 1968 Adam Adamant Lives 1967 Jason King 1972 two episodes of Thriller 1973 and 1976 The Sweeney 1975 Blake s 7 1978 Minder 1984 and Doctor Who the serial The Greatest Show in the Galaxy 1988 89 He played Richmond in the Thames Television series Callan 1972 and made ten appearances in Crown Court 1974 1982 mainly as barrister Patrick Canty while also appearing in the popular ATV anthology drama series Love Story 1965 1968 He also featured prominently in other television dramas including The Duchess of Malfi 1972 Napoleon and Love 1974 The Changeling 1974 Fathers and Families 1977 Holocaust 1978 the Blake s 7 episode Bounty 1978 The Manions of America 1981 To the Lighthouse 1983 The Scarlet and the Black 1983 Bleak House 1985 Strong Medicine 1986 The Play on One Unreported Incident 1988 Jack the Ripper 1988 Shoot to Kill 1990 TV series Lovejoy Irish Stew 1993 and the final episode of Inspector Morse The Remorseful Day 2000 He had prominent film roles in Ulysses 1967 and A Portrait of the Artist As A Young Man 1977 Other film credits include The Charge of the Light Brigade 1968 Anne of the Thousand Days 1969 Perfect Friday 1970 Villain 1971 Straw Dogs 1971 All Creatures Great and Small 1975 Memed My Hawk 1984 Pascali s Island 1988 A Caribbean Mystery 1989 Monarch 2000 and The Libertine 2004 He narrated the Emmy award winning documentary on the life of James Joyce Is There One Who Understands Me RTE His performance as Henry VIII in the film Monarch was re released in cinemas in 2014 Radio and Audiobooks edit McKenna s wonderfully rich voice featured in over thirty original drama productions for the BBC and the World Service along with readings of short stories and poetry for a variety of programmes He took the role of Phonsie Doherty in Christopher Fitz Simon s Radio 4 comedy series Ballylenon and later appeared opposite David Threlfall in the radio drama Baldi On CD and download he has recorded the audiobooks poetry of W B Yeats Joyce s short story collection Dubliners and Somerville and Ross s Tales of an Irish R M Personal life editMcKenna was married to May White literally the girl next door from 1956 until her death in 2007 4 They had five children His son Breffni McKenna had a long running role in the UK TV soap Crossroads and appeared in the 1992 movie The Crying Game Death editMcKenna died on 13 February 2011 at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead London at the age of 81 following a long period of illness He was buried alongside his wife at Teampall Cheallaigh Cemetery in his native County Cavan 6 Following his death tributes were paid by President of Ireland Mary McAleese Prince Charles and Ireland s Culture Minister Mary Hanafin who said that McKenna was one of a great generation whose talents on the screen and stage both at home and abroad gave us all great pride in his accomplishments In County Cavan he is commemorated by the T P McKenna Drama Scholarships VEC and the T P McKenna Perpetual Trophy presented as part of the Millrace Annual Drama Festival 7 Selected filmography edit1959 Broth of a Boy as Holmes 1959 Home Is the Hero as Young Man At Dance 1959 Shake Hands with the Devil as Unknown uncredited 1960 A Terrible Beauty as A McIntyre Boy uncredited 1960 The Siege of Sidney Street as Lapidos 1960 Das schwarze Schaf as uncredited 1961 Freedom to Die as Mike 1961 Johnny Nobody as Officer Garda 1964 Girl with Green Eyes as The Priest 1964 Ferry Cross the Mersey as Jack Hanson 1964 Downfall as Martin Somers 1965 Young Cassidy as Tom 1967 Ulysses as Buck Mulligan 1968 The Charge of the Light Brigade as William Russell 1969 Anne of the Thousand Days as Sir Henry Norris 1970 The Beast in the Cellar Chief Superintendent Paddick 1970 The Fifth Day of Peace as Nick 1970 Perfect Friday as Smith 1971 Straw Dogs Major John Scott 1971 Villain as Frank Fletcher 1971 Percy as Meet The People Compere 1973 A Warm December as Minor Role uncredited 1974 Percy s Progress as London News Editor 1975 All Creatures Great and Small as Soames 1975 Looking For Clancy as Marcus Selby 1977 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man as Simon Dedalus 1980 The Outsider as John Russell 1980 Silver Dream Racer as Bank Manager 1982 Britannia Hospital as Theatre Surgeon 1984 Kurtulus TRT as Lloyd George 1984 Memed My Hawk as Dursan 1985 The Doctor and the Devils as O Connor 1988 The Play on One Unreported Incident as Michael Flynn 1988 Pascali s Island as Dr Hogan 1988 Jack the Ripper as O Connor 1988 Red Scorpion as General Oleg Vortek 1989 Valmont as Baron 2000 Monarch as Henry VIII 2000 Longitude as Edmund Burke 2002 The Boys from County Clare as The Announcer 2004 The Libertine as Black RodReferences edit Olivia Kelly Irascible actor TP McKenna dies in London aged 81 Irish Times 15 February 2011 TP McKenna obituary Guardian 16 February 2011 The many faces of TP McKenna Irish Times 19 February 2011 a b c McKenna Thomas Patrick T P Dictionary of Irish Biography Retrieved 24 April 2022 Dowling Vincent 2001 Astride the Moon A Theatrical Life Wolfhound ISBN 978 0863278280 Sweeney Ken 28 February 2011 Late TP McKenna a true son of Mullagh Irish Independent Retrieved 8 June 2015 T P McKenna siteExternal links editT P McKenna at IMDb T P McKenna Official website Daily Telegraph obituary The Guardian obituary The Independent obituary Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title T P McKenna amp oldid 1198613943, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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