Rosaleen Linehan

Rosaleen Philomena Linehan, born on 1 June 1937 in Dublin, Ireland, is an Irish actress whose career spans stage, screen, and television. Born Rosaleen McMenamin, she attended University College Dublin, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Politics in 1957. She joined UCD Dramsoc on her first day of college and began working professionally as an actress within two years of graduating.

Linehan's stage career has encompassed a wide range of classical and contemporary work, including productions of Blithe Spirit, The House of Bernarda Alba, and Twelfth Night. She took on the role of Winnie in Samuel Beckett's Happy Days both on stage, including a 1996 production at the Gate Theatre opposite Barry McGovern, and on screen as part of the Beckett on Film project. She has also appeared in numerous comedy revues written by her husband, Fergus Linehan.

Her Broadway career ran from 1991 to 2003 and included appearances in Tartuffe and Dancing at Lughnasa. In the latter production, she played Kate in Brian Friel's play, a performance for which she received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play in 1992. That same year, she received both a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance and a Theatre World Special Award.

Linehan's film work includes the roles of Nurse Callan in Ulysses, May Dedalus in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1977), Aunt Fitzeustace in Fools of Fortune, Mrs. Canning in The Butcher Boy, Mrs Matson in The Hi-Lo Country, Peggy Owens in About Adam, and Millie O'Dowd in The Matchmaker. On television, she appeared in Hugh Leonard's BBC sitcom Me Mammy, played Bess Nugent in Sharpe's Gold (1995), provided voice work on the Irish-language children's series Inis Cúil in 2005, and appeared in Bitter Sweet as Deirdre O'Kane's mother.

In radio, Linehan won a Jacob's Award in 1972 for her RTÉ Radio comedy series Get an Earful of This. Among her later honors, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Irish Theatre Awards in 2008 and the UCD Alumni Award for Arts in 2014.

Her father, Daniel McMenamin, served as a Teachta Dála representing Donegal from 1927 to 1961. Linehan was married to Fergus Linehan, who died in 2016; together they had four children and eight grandchildren. She continues to reside in Dublin.