Donal McCann

Donal McCann (7 May 1943 – 17 July 1999) was an Irish actor who worked across stage, film, and television, and who appeared on Broadway between 1988 and 1993. Born in Terenure, Dublin, he was the son of John J. McCann, a playwright and politician who served as Lord Mayor of Dublin on two occasions. McCann made an early appearance on stage in a 1962 production of his father's Give Me a Bed of Roses at Terenure College, though he subsequently pursued architecture before taking a position as a trainee sub-editor at the Evening Press. That role allowed him to attend part-time acting classes at the Abbey School of Actors concurrently, and he joined the Abbey Players in the late 1960s.

His early stage work placed him within the Irish literary canon from the outset. He appeared as Cuchulainn in W. B. Yeats's On Baile Strand in 1966 and took the role of Estragon opposite Peter O'Toole's Vladimir in a production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot in 1969. His career encompassed productions of Tarry Flynn and The Shaughran, as well as a subsequent staging of Seán O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars. In the 1980s, he played Captain Boyle — the "Paycock" — in the Gate Theatre's production of O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock, appearing alongside Geraldine Plunkett as Juno and John Kavanagh as Joxer Daly. That production later transferred to Broadway, where McCann starred in it as part of his Broadway appearances.

McCann built a sustained working relationship with playwright Brian Friel. In 1970 he played Gar O'Donnell, the public figure, in a film adaptation of Philadelphia, Here I Come!, and in 1980 he gave what became a landmark performance as Frank Hardy, the title character of Faith Healer, a role he returned to in 1994. His Friel collaborations on stage continued with Translations in 1988 and Wonderful Tennessee in 1993, the latter also among his Broadway credits.

His most celebrated stage achievement came through Sebastian Barry's The Steward of Christendom, in which he played Thomas Dunne. The role earned him the London Critics Circle Theatre Award for best actor in drama in 1995. He reprised the performance at the Gate Theatre, Dublin in 1996, and a twelve-week run at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1997 drew wide critical attention in the United States, including a Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actor in a Play nomination. Among his other London stage appearances, McCann played opposite Antony Sher in Prayer for My Daughter in 1978 and appeared as Jean to Dame Helen Mirren's Julie in Miss Julie in 1971, a production subsequently filmed for the BBC. He later played Judge Brack alongside Fiona Shaw in a BBC television production of Ibsen's Hedda Gabler in 1993.

McCann's film career began in 1966 with Disney's The Fighting Prince of Donegal. He worked with director Neil Jordan on multiple occasions, appearing in Angel, The Miracle, and High Spirits. He played Shamie, the title character's father, in Cal, and appeared as one of the feuding brothers in Thaddeus O'Sullivan's December Bride. His most prominent film role was as Gabriel Conroy in John Huston's final film, The Dead, released in 1987, in which he starred opposite Anjelica Huston. Later film credits included Bernardo Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty in 1996 and John Turturro's Illuminata, which was released in 1999 after McCann's death. In 2020, The Irish Times ranked him 45th on its list of Ireland's greatest film actors.

His television work included the role of Phineas Finn in the BBC's serialized adaptation of Anthony Trollope's The Pallisers, Willie Burke in RTÉ's Prix Italia drama entry The Burke Enigma in 1979, and Barney Mulhall in RTÉ's Strumpet City in 1980. He also appeared in Bob Quinn's Irish-language film Poitín in 1979 and Quinn's The Bishop's Story in 1995. In 1998, Quinn directed an RTÉ television documentary about McCann titled It Must Be Done Right, drawn from a remark McCann had made about his craft. The documentary aired on RTÉ one week before his death.

McCann died on 17 July 1999 at the age of 56 from pancreatic cancer. He was originally from Dublin, Ireland.