Daragh O'Malley

Daragh Gerard Marion O'Malley (born 25 May 1954) is an Irish actor, director and producer. He was born in Dublin, Ireland.

Among many TV appearances O'Malley is known for his portrayal of Patrick Harper in the series '' Sharpe'' (1993–2009), starring Sean Bean. O'Malley first appeared in roles in the films ''The Long Good Friday'' and ''Withnail and I'', guest roles in many UK television series including '' Tales of the Unexpected'', '' Waking The Dead'' and '' Vera'', TV roles in ''Longitude'', ''Cleopatra'' and ''The Magnificent Seven'', and US TV film ''Vendetta''. O'Malley also played Irish explorer Tom Crean in the 8 part television series ''The Last Place on Earth''.

In 2011 O'Malley turned his focus to the stage, appearing in productions in the US and in the UK. Among over a dozen stage productions O'Malley appeared as Father Jack in a revival of ''Dancing at Lughnasa'', which was nominated for an MTA Best Production Award, and followed that by playing John Rainey in a London revival of Irvine's '' Mixed Marriage'', which received positive reviews. In 2014, O'Malley appeared as Big Daddy in a production of ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' at The Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester, for which he was nominated for an MTA Best Actor award, while UK's ''The Stage'' selected O'Malley's performance as one of the Top Five Performances in UK theatre in 2014.

Biography

Daragh O'Malley was born in Holles Street Hospital in Dublin on 25 May 1954 to politician Donogh O'Malley (first elected the day Daragh was born) and medical doctor Hilda (née Moriarty). He was raised in Limerick and educated by the Jesuits at Crescent College.

O'Malley's aunt Meave (his father's sister) is singer Dido's grandmother.

As a teenager, O'Malley appeared as the lead in several student productions at Terenure College. Of the cast of one of the school plays, '' Juno and the Paycock'', five of the cast went on to become professional actors. He won multiple All Ireland prizes for poetry recitation and public speaking - aged 14 he won The Galassi Cup, an all-aged national public speaking competition. O'Malley's subject was The Life of Padraig Pearse.

O'Malley has seemingly been approached many times over the years by the Fianna Fáil party to put his name forward for election in his father's constituency, then Limerick East now Limerick City, but on each occasion O'Malley declined the invitation. On the Sam Smyth Radio Show in 2004, O'Malley stated, "The stress of politics, one of the great performance arts, killed my father at 47 – while I would like nothing better than appearing in the great theatre that is Dáil Éireann he Irish parliamenteven for just one day, I feel the price one would pay is far too high. Politics I have discovered, is a thankless activity which only breeds animosity and ultimately ends in failure – no matter how well intentioned one is."

O'Malley was very friendly over many years with Irish actor Richard Harris, who was also from Limerick. O'Malley's father was once engaged to Harris's sister Audrey, but she died aged 21.
O'Malley and Harris were often spotted together in hostelries around London - The Coal Hole on The Strand and The Wilton in Kinnerton Street - and at rugby matches in Britain when the Munster team were playing - often seen with Peter O'Toole in tow - or in Kilkee in County Clare, Ireland and at Dingle Races in Kerry Ireland . O'Malley and Harris both had an interest in horse racing - Harris owned two racehorses - Cromwell and A Tramp Shining, and O'Malley also owned two, Mustang Prince and Running Deer, a filly named after an Indian character in Harris's film '' A Man Called Horse''.

O'Malley was one of the last people to spend time with former Taoiseach Charles Haughey before he died. Haughey, who was O'Malley's father's best friend, requested a meeting with O'Malley in his final days and O'Malley spent an afternoon in June 2006 with a very ill Haughey at his home in Dublin, accompanied by Noel Pearson, producer of the film ''My Left Foot''. Haughey died three days later.

O'Malley studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, where he appeared as Creon in ''Antigone'' with American actress Amy Irving in his final year production. On leaving LAMDA O'Malley was a founding member of Common Stock Theatre Company, one of London's first community theatre groups, which was based in an old church on Pentonville Road in London – where the clown Grimaldi is buried - and which took theatre to the poor of London's East End. A fellow founder member of Common Stock was Dame Harriet Walter

O'Malley married Gabrielle Leavy in June 1993 at Farm Street Church in London.

From 1992 to 2009, O'Malley appeared in the ITV series '' Sharpe''.

After Bobby Ewing was killed off in ''Dallas'', Patrick Duffy, who had played the part, and O'Malley formed a partnership in the film production company European Motion Pictures. In 1992 O'Malley sued Rupert Murdoch, Gill and McMillan/WH Allen and ''The Sunday Press'' for criminal libel, over an article which appeared on the front page of the ''News of the World'' and was copied in subsequent publications, which linked O'Malley and Patrick Duffy with the IRA. The case was settled on the steps of Ireland's High Court, with Murdoch - who appeared to have taken a personal interest in the case - accepting "that there was no truth whatsoever in the ''News of The World'' article which we published on our front page", resulting in Murdoch et al paying O'Malley a sum plus costs, which at the time was "the highest libel settlement in the history of the Irish State".

In the mid-1990s, O'Malley was cast as Debra Winger's husband in the ill-fated feature ''Divine Rapture'', which also starred Marlon Brando, John Hurt and Johnny Depp. The production collapsed a few weeks into filming when Orion, the major Los Angeles production company backing the film, suddenly went bankrupt. O'Malley lived in Los Angeles for many years and after the collapse of ''Divine Rapture'' remained close to Brando. O'Malley and Brando were working on a film version of ''The Merchant of Venice'' - with Brando due to play Shylock - when Brando died. On Brando's death the project went into turnaround and was subsequently picked up with Al Pacino as Shylock. O'Malley bowed out and was not involved in the production of the Pacino film.

In 2011, O'Malley returned to the stage, appearing as Father Jack in a UK production of Brien Friel's ''Dancing at Lughnasa'' and as trade unionist John Rainey in an acclaimed London production of Irving's '' Mixed Marriage''. Michael Billington of ''The Guardian'' described O'Malley's performance as "magnificent" in "the most compelling play in London".

In late 2014, O'Malley appeared as Big Daddy in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre. O'Malley was nominated as Best Actor at The MTA Theatre Awards - MTA stated "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof seethes with unhappy people circling the central character, patriarch Big Daddy. Daragh O’Malley blisters his way through this famous role like a raging bull with great physical presence tempered by emotional vulnerability". The Times called O'Malley's performance as Big Daddy "towering in every sense of the word".

In 2019 O'Malley appeared in a series of award winning TV commercials for Allianz Insurance entitled ''We Cover Courage'', a high-end dramatization of the announcement of the revolutionary Free Education scheme in Ireland in 1967. The Allianz commercials were directed by Richie Smyth ('' The Siege of Jadotville'').

In 2021 O'Malley appeared as Snuffy the Hitman in the UK Premiere of David Ireland's Yes, So I said Yes at Chelsea's Finborough Theatre which was well received. The Spectator called O'Malley's performance "astonishing" while The Guardian called it "indominatable " O'Malley garnered his second BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE 2021 nomination at The West End Offie Awards

In 2021 it is rumoured that O'Malley began production in Prague as a new character in the sequel to the multi million selling video game Kingdom Come: Deliverance

O'Malley is also the voice of the iconic crooked lawyer Nick Virago in the multi-million-selling Lucas Arts CD-ROM ''Grim Fandango''. A voice actor and voice-over artist, O'Malley has voiced over 500 commercials and was for many years the voice of the Utah-based Beneficial Life Insurance Company on commercial radio across North America.

Awards

O'Malley produced the Irish version of ''The Rocky Horror Show'' in Dublin; the show won numerous awards, including a Best Production Jacob's Award. The show's playwright, Richard O'Brien, described O'Malley's Irish production as "without doubt, the sexiest version of my show ever produced".

In Los Angeles, O'Malley won a Drama-Logue Best Actor Award for his 1998 performance as Sweeney in Patrick Marber's ''Dealers Choice'' at The Mark Taper Forum.

A one-off episode of the BBC Series ''Doctors'', a two-handed episode in which O'Malley appeared with actor Christopher Timothy, won a BANFF TV Award.

In 2011, a production of ''Dancing at Lughnasa'' in which O'Malley appeared as Father Jack was nominated for an MTA Award.

In 2015, O'Malley was nominated for an MTA Award and STAGE Best Actor Award for his performance as Big Daddy in Tennessee Williams' ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' at the Royal Exchange, Manchester.

In 2017, O'Malley was nominated for a West End Offie Award for his performance as the crooked police chief Ivan in the UK premiere of Maxine Gorky's ''The Last Ones

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