Denis O'Dea

Denis O'Dea (26 April 1905 – 5 November 1978) was an Irish stage and film actor. Career He was born in Dublin and attended Synge Street CBS. 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. 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. He also appeared in numerous plays 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).

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).

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. Lennox Robinson Abbey Theatre, lost work of Teresa Deevy

A Disciple Jack the Scalp Abbey Theatre, Dublin, a play by Teresa Deevy The Moon in the Yellow River Darrell Blake Abbey Theatre, Dublin, a play by Denis Johnston

Temporal Powers Jim Slattery Abbey Theatre, Dublin, a play by Teresa Deevy Things That Are Caesar's Terrence Nooman Martin Beck Theatre, New York, O'Dea's American debut The New Gossoon Luke Carey Martin Beck Theatre, New York 1933 Margaret Gillan Michael Taafe Abbey Theatre, Dublin, a play by Brinsley MacNamara

The Plough and the Stars Capt. Brennan John Golden Theatre, New York, part of a reparatory performance in November of that year. The New Gossoon Luke Carey Drama at Inish Eddie Twohig Look at the Heffernans Sidney Heffernan The Resurrection The Syrian Church Street The Evoked Hugh The Well of the Saints Mat Simon The Coiner A Police Sergeant Juno and the Paycock An Irregular Mobilizer

The Puritan Francis Ferriter Chester Erskin Belmont Theatre, New York Green Waters Michael Fraser Theatre Masque, New York

Katie Roche Jo Mahoney Cambridge, England Katie Roche Jo Mahoney

The Plough and the Stars The Young Covey In a Train Delancey The Playboy of the Western World Philly Cullen The New Gossoon Luke Carey Juno and the Paycock Jerry Devine Drama at Inish John Hegarty 1938 Riders to the Sea Bartley Touring production 1938 The King of Spain's Daughter Jim Harris Abbey Theatre, Dublin 1939 The King of Spain's Daughter Jim Harris Cork, Ireland 1941 The Money Doesn't Matter Philip Mannion Abbey Theatre, Dublin

Juno and the Paycock Joxer Daly The Plough and the Stars Commandant Jack Clitheroe 1944 John Bull's Other Island Abbey Theatre, Dublin

Juno and the Paycock Jerry Devine Lennox Robinson Abbey Theatre, Dublin The Playboy of the Western World Shawn Keogh Abbey Theatre, Dublin 1946 The Shadow of a Gunman Donal Davoren Abbey Theatre, Dublin 1951 The Playboy of the Western World Shawn Keogh The Dublin Players, Edinburgh Festival

The Playboy of the Western World Shawn Keogh Gaiety Theatre, Dublin Shadow and Substance Rev. Thomas Canon Skerritt Abbey Theatre, Dublin 1955 The Righteous Are Bold Father O'Malley Eddie Dowling Holiday Theatre, New York