Moira Deady

Moira Deady, Mrs Hoey (13 March 1922 – 15 November 2010) was an Irish actress.

She starred as Mary Riordan, "the quintessential Irish mammy", in The Riordans from 1965 until the show was cancelled in 1979. She later appeared as Nellie Connors in Glenroe. She began acting by traveling around Ireland as part of fit-ups (traveling theatre troupes).

In 1954, she married fellow The Riordans actor John "Johnny" Hoey (who played "Francie Maher"). John Hoey died on 10 August 1978, aged 69. The couple had four children, Kevin, Mary, Bernadette, and Brenda.

In 2009, she reunited with the cast members of the rural drama The Riordans for an RTÉ documentary on the programme. She was one of a small number of Riordans actors to work on both its successor series Bracken and Glenroe.

Death She died, aged 88, on 15 November 2010 in Loughlinstown Hospital, County Dublin.

John Boland, writing in the Irish Independent, called her "everyone's mammy and the conscience of a nation" while reflecting that her death meant all the senior cast members of The Riordans were now deceased.

Hundreds attended her funeral on 18 November at Holy Rosary Church, Greystones.

Roles Film The Nephew (1998) as Birdie This Is My Father (1998) as Mrs. Kearney Angela's Ashes (1999) as Mrs. Purcell Headrush (2003) as Mrs. Macroom The Tiger's Tail (2006) as Maeve, Liam's mother (final film role)

Television The Riordans (1972-1979) as Mary Riordan Bracken (1981) The Irish R.M. (1984) as Mrs. Coffey Glenroe (1997) as Nellie Connors Legend (2006) as Mrs. Gallagher

Theatre Wild Goose - Hannah Power