After 22 movies Jennifer Connelly is an overnight success. Penelope Dening talks to the winner of the Best Supporting actress academy Award. A blur of bodies block the corridor, voices muffled to a hum by carpets thick as fur. At the center a slight figure in black (spike-heeled boots, leather trousers, off-the shoulder lace) extricates herself and moves towards me. Like a … [Read more...] about A Beautiful Success
Irish Actress
Irish Theater Loses a Voice
The creative community suffered a grievous loss when actor, drama teacher, artistic director and founder of the Focus Theatre in Dublin, Deirdre O'Connell, died at her home in Dublin on June 9. Born to Irish immigrants – her mother was from Cork, her father from Sligo – in the Bronx, New York in 1939, Deirdre was encouraged by her parents in her desire to act from an early … [Read more...] about Irish Theater Loses a Voice
Lacey Meets Brecht in Dublin
Tyne Daly, known to TV viewers as Mary Beth Lacey, takes on a new role in Dublin. The character of Mary Beth Lacey is as firmly fixed in the collective televisual consciousness of the Irish as it is in Americans – perhaps even more so. Yet it's hard to imagine Tyne Daly, the person behind the persona, being swamped by autograph seekers in a Stateside mall; it wasa … [Read more...] about Lacey Meets Brecht in Dublin
Susan Lynch
For decades now, Irish film stardom has been an exclusively male domain – the big three of Liam Neeson, Pierce Brosnan and Gabriel Byrne recently being joined by Colin Farrell. But that could be about to change. With her commanding screen presence, natural talent and striking looks, many film critics are predicting great things for Northern Irish actress Susan Lynch. American … [Read more...] about Susan Lynch
Margaret Mitchell’s Lasting Gift
Madam, I greet you on the beginning of a great new career." With these words John Mitchell presented his wife, Margaret, with a second-hand Remington typewriter. Ten years later Margaret Mitchell presented to the world her masterpiece, Gone With the Wind. On November 8, 2000, 100 years after her birth we remember her extraordinary gift. By the age of 25 Margaret Mitchell … [Read more...] about Margaret Mitchell’s Lasting Gift