A Life (play)
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A Life (play)
''A Life'' is a bittersweet comedy by Ireland, Irish playwright Hugh Leonard. The primary character is Desmond Drumm, a highly intelligent but bitterly cynical civil servant who must try to make sense of his life after learning that he has a terminal illness. A major subplot involves Drumm's feeling for Mary (once known as Mibs), the only woman he ever truly loved. Drumm alienated Mary years earlier, and she married a lazy, callow, layabout who represents everything Drumm dislikes in lower-class Irish culture. Drumm was a secondary character in Leonard's earlier Tony Award-winning play Da (play), ''Da''. Productions The play had premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin starring Cyril Cusack in 1979. The play opened on Broadway theatre, Broadway at the Morosco Theatre on 2 November 1980 and closed on 3 January 1981 after 64 performances and 8 previews.
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Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the List of islands of the British Isles, second-largest island of the British Isles, the List of European islands by area, third-largest in Europe, and the List of islands by area, twentieth-largest on Earth. Geopolitically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Ireland), which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. As of 2022, the Irish population analysis, population of the entire island is just over 7 million, with 5.1 million living in the Republic of Ireland and 1.9 million in Northern Ireland, ranking it the List of European islan ...
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Pat Hingle
Martin Patterson Hingle (July 19, 1924 – January 3, 2009) was an American character actor who appeared in stage productions and in hundreds of television shows and feature films. His first film was ''On the Waterfront'' in 1954. He often played tough authority figures. Hingle was a close friend of Clint Eastwood and appeared in the Eastwood films ''Hang 'em High'', '' The Gauntlet'', and '' Sudden Impact''. He also portrayed Jim Gordon in the ''Batman'' film franchise from 1989 to 1997. Early life Hingle was born in Miami, Florida (some sources say Denver, Colorado), the son of Marvin Louise (née Patterson), a schoolteacher and musician, and Clarence Martin Hingle, a building contractor. He attended Weslaco High School, where he played tuba in the band. Hingle enlisted in the United States Navy in December 1941, dropping out of the University of Texas. He served on the destroyer USS ''Marshall'' during World War II. He returned to the University of Texas after the war and e ...
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1979 Plays
Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ''Chiquitita'' to commemorate the event. ** The United States and the People's Republic of China establish full diplomatic relations. ** Following a deal agreed during 1978, French carmaker Peugeot completes a takeover of American manufacturer Chrysler's European operations, which are based in Britain's former Rootes Group factories, as well as the former Simca factories in France. * January 7 – Cambodian–Vietnamese War: The People's Army of Vietnam and Vietnamese-backed Cambodian insurgents announce the fall of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and the collapse of the Pol Pot regime. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge retreat west to an area along the Thai border, ending large-scale fighting. * January 8 – Whiddy Island Disaster: The Fren ...
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John Mahoney
Charles John Mahoney (June 20, 1940 – February 4, 2018) was an English-born American actor. He was known for playing Martin Crane on the NBC sitcom ''Frasier'' (1993–2004), and won a Screen Actors Guild Award for the role in 2000. Mahoney started his career in Chicago as a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company alongside John Malkovich, Gary Sinise, and Laurie Metcalf. He received the Clarence Derwent Award as Most Promising Male Newcomer in 1986. Later that year, his performance in the Broadway revival of John Guare's ''The House of Blue Leaves'' earned him a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. Mahoney first became known for his roles in such films as John Patrick Shanley's romantic comedy ''Moonstruck'' (1987), Barry Levinson's comedy ''Tin Men'', John Sayles' sports drama ''Eight Men Out'' (1988), Cameron Crowe's romantic drama '' Say Anything...'' (1989), the Coen brothers' ''Barton Fink'' (1991), and ''The Hudsucker Proxy'' (1994), Clint Eastwood's ''In th ...
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Pauline Flanagan
Pauline Flanagan (29 June 1925 – 28 June 2003) was a Irish-born actress who had a long career on stage, she was best known in the United States for her role as Annie Colleary, on the television soap opera '' Ryan's Hope'' in 1979 and again in 1981. She later returned to the show as Sister Mary Joel. Biography Flanagan was born in County Sligo, Ireland, to Patrick and Elizabeth (née Mulligan) Flanagan, who were deeply political and supported the Republican Anti-Treaty during the Irish Civil War, both served as Lord Mayor of Sligo.Simonson, Robert"Pauline Flanagan, Irish Character Actress, Is Dead"Playbill, 30 June 2003. Flanagan was good friends with fellow Irish actresses Joan O'Hara and Paddy Croft. Flanagan spent much of the early 1950s touring with Anew McMaster, where she met Harold Pinter at the Gate's Pinter Festival. She appeared in many Broadway plays, making her debut in 1957 with Dylan Thomas' ''Under Milk Wood''. She starred in the 1976 Broadway revival of '' ...
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Fritz Weaver
Fritz William Weaver (January 19, 1926 − November 26, 2016) was an American actor in television, stage, and motion pictures. He portrayed Dr. Josef Weiss in the 1978 epic television drama, ''Holocaust'' for which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. In cinema, he made his debut in the film ''Fail Safe'' (1964) and also appeared in '' Marathon Man'' (1976), ''Creepshow'' (1982), and '' The Thomas Crown Affair'' (1999). Among many television roles, he performed in the movie ''The Legend of Lizzie Borden'' (1975). He also worked in science fiction and fantasy, especially in television series and movies like ''The Twilight Zone'', '' 'Way Out'', ''Night Gallery'', ''The X-Files'', ''The Martian Chronicles,'' and ''Demon Seed''. Weaver also narrated educational TV programs. Early life Weaver was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on January 19, 1926, the son of Elsa W. Weaver (née Stringaro) and John Carson Weaver. His mother was of Italian descent and his father was a social ...
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Off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer than 100. An "off-Broadway production" is a production of a play, musical, or revue that appears in such a venue and adheres to related trade union and other contracts. Some shows that premiere off-Broadway are subsequently produced on Broadway. History The term originally referred to any venue, and its productions, on a street intersecting Broadway in Midtown Manhattan's Theater District, the hub of the American theatre industry. It later became defined by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers as a professional venue in Manhattan with a seating capacity of at least 100, but not more than 499, or a production that appears in such a venue and adheres to related trade union and other contracts. Previously, regardless of the size ...
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Irish Repertory Theatre
The Irish Repertory Theatre is an Off Broadway theatre founded in 1988. History The Irish Repertory Theatre was founded by Ciarán O'Reilly and Charlotte Moore, which opened its doors in September 1988,http://www.nyc-arts.org/organizations/1963/irish-repertory-theatre with Sean O'Casey's ''The Plough and the Stars''. The mission of the theatre was and remains: to bring works by Irish and Irish American masters and contemporary playwrights to American audiences, to provide a context for understanding the contemporary Irish American experience, and to encourage the development of new works focusing on the Irish and Irish American experience, as well as a range of other cultures. In 1995, the company moved to its permanent home in Chelsea on three completely renovated floors of a former warehouse, allowing for both a Main Stage theatre and a smaller studio space, the W. Scott McLucas Studio. The Irish Repertory Theatre is the only year-round theatre company in New York City de ...
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Roy Dotrice
Roy Dotrice (26 May 1923 – 16 October 2017) was a British actor famed for his portrayal of the antiquarian John Aubrey in the record-breaking solo play ''Brief Lives''. Abroad, he won a Tony Award for his performance in the 2000 Broadway revival of ''A Moon for the Misbegotten'', also appearing as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's father Leopold in ''Amadeus'' (1984), Charles Dickens in ''Dickens of London'' (1984), and Jacob Wells/Father in ''Beauty and the Beast''. Late in life, he narrated a series of audiobooks for George R. R. Martin's epic fantasy series ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', for which he held the Guinness World Record for the most character voices for an audiobook by an individual. Life and career Dotrice was born in Guernsey, Bailiwick of Guernsey on 26 May 1923 to Neva (née Wilton; 1897–1984) and Louis Dotrice (1896–1991). He served as a wireless operator/air gunner with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, and was imprisoned in a German prisoner of w ...
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Hugh Leonard
Hugh Leonard (9 November 1926 – 12 February 2009) was an Irish dramatist, television writer, and essayist. In a career that spanned 50 years, Leonard wrote nearly 30 full-length plays, 10 one-act plays, three volumes of essay, two autobiographies, three novels, numerous screenplays and teleplays, and a regular newspaper column. Life and career Leonard was born in Dublin as John Joseph Byrne, but was put up for adoption. Raised in Dalkey, a suburb of Dublin, by Nicholas and Margaret Keyes, he changed his name to John Keyes Byrne."Playwright with full mastery of his craft"
''The Irish Times'', obituary section, 14 February 2009, retrieved 16 February 2009
Weber, Bruc

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Peter Coe (director)
Peter Leonard Coe (18 April 1929 – 25 May 1987), was an English theatre director. Early life Coe was born in London 18 April 1929 and graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Theatre career After beginning as an actor, Peter Coe staged dramas, musicals and operas across several continents in a long career. His first London success came in 1959 with the musical ''Lock Up Your Daughters'' and by 1961 he had three hits running simultaneously. He also directed both the Australian and Broadway productions of Oliver! as well as its U.S. national tour and the 1983 London and 1984 Broadway revivals. His operatic credits included ''The Love of Three Oranges'', ''The Angel of Fire'', and ''Ernani''. In 1981 Coe received an Antoinette Perry Award nomination as Best Director for A Life, and in 1982 he won the award for his revival of ''Othello''. He was thrice nominated for the Tony award on Broadway; in 1963 for Best Director (musical) for ''Oliver!'', 198 ...
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Morosco Theatre
The Morosco Theatre was a Broadway theatre near Times Square in New York City from 1917 to 1982. It housed many notable productions and its demolition, along with four adjacent theaters, was controversial. History Located at 217 West 45th Street, the Morosco Theatre was designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp for the Shubert family, who constructed it for Oliver Morosco in gratitude for his helping them break the monopoly of the Theatrical Syndicate. It had approximately 955 seats. After an invitation-only preview performance on February 4, 1917, it opened to the public on February 5. The inaugural production was ''Canary Cottage'', a musical with a book by Morosco and a score by Earl Carroll. The Shuberts lost the building in the Great Depression, and City Playhouses, Inc. bought it at auction in 1943. It was sold in 1968 to Bankers Trust Company and, after a massive "Save the Theatres" protest movement led by Joe Papp and supported by various actors and other theatrical fol ...
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