Michael Anthony Doyle (21 July 1935 – 28 January 2000) was an Irish

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

and

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

. He became widely known in Ireland as a then-radical priest in the popular Irish rural drama ''

The Riordans ''The Riordans'' was the second Irish television drama serial made by Raidio Telefís Éireann (then called ''Telefís Éireann''). It ran from 1965 to 1979 and was set in the fictional townland of Leestown in County Kilkenny. Its location fi ...

'', which began in 1965. He worked consistently in series, television films, and feature films throughout his life. He died unexpectedly in 2000, at the time playing in another well-known Irish rural drama, ''

Ballykissangel ''Ballykissangel'' is a BBC television drama created by Kieran Prendiville and set in Ireland, produced in-house by BBC Northern Ireland. The original story revolved around a young English Roman Catholic priest as he became part of a rural comm ...

''.

Acting career

He first came to prominence playing a liberal

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

priest - Father Sheehy - in

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

's iconic rural drama ''

''. He appeared in such popular shows as ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Origi ...

'', '' Between the Lines'', ''

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

'', ''

Children of the North ''Children of the North'' is a British television thriller drama series, written by John Hale, that first broadcast on BBC2 on 30 October 1991. The series, comprising four episodes, was based on the novel trilogy ''The Killing of Yesterday's Ch ...

'' and ''

'', and won an Irish Film and Television Academy Award for best leading performance for his role in the 1998

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

Amongst Women ''Amongst Women'' is a novel by the Irish writer John McGahern (1934–2006). McGahern's best known novel, it is also considered his greatest work. Published by Faber and Faber, the novel tells the story of Michael Moran, a bitter, ageing Iris ...

''. Tony Doyle also appeared in the first ''

Minder A minder is the person assigned to guide or escort a visitor, or to provide protection to somebody, or to otherwise assist or take care of something, i.e. a person who " minds". Government-appointed persons to accompany foreign visitors are of ...

'' episode, "Gunfight at the OK Laundrette", playing a drunken Irishman. His most famous film role saw Tony as the head of the SAS, Colonel Hadley, in the 1982 British film ''

Who Dares Wins ''Who Dares Wins'' (Latin: ''Qui audet adipiscitur''; el, Ο Τολμών Νικά, ''O tolmón niká''; french: Qui ose gagne; it, Chi osa vince; Portuguese: ''Quem ousa vence''; German: ''Wer wagt, gewinnt'') is a motto made popular in the ...

''. His other film roles included appearances in ''

Ulysses Ulysses is one form of the Roman name for Odysseus, a hero in ancient Greek literature. Ulysses may also refer to: People * Ulysses (given name), including a list of people with this name Places in the United States * Ulysses, Kansas * Ulysse ...

'' (1967), ''

Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx ''Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx'' is a 1970 Irish-American comedy film directed by Waris Hussein and written by Gabriel Walsh. It stars Gene Wilder as the title character, a poor Irish manure collector who falls in love with an Ameri ...

'' (1970), ''

Loophole A loophole is an ambiguity or inadequacy in a system, such as a law or security, which can be used to circumvent or otherwise avoid the purpose, implied or explicitly stated, of the system. Originally, the word meant an arrowslit, a narrow verti ...

'' (1981), ''

Eat the Peach ''Eat the Peach'' is a 1986 Irish comedy film, directed by Peter Ormrod. The title derives from the T. S. Eliot poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." It was written by Peter Ormrod with John Kelleher. Filming ''Eat The Peach'' was filme ...

'' (1986), ''

Secret Friends ''Secret Friends'' is a 1991 British film written and directed by Dennis Potter and starring Alan Bates, Gina Bellman and Ian McNeice. It was based on Potter's novel ''Ticket to Ride (novel), Ticket to Ride''. The screenplay concerns a man whose ...

'' (1991), ''

Damage Damage is any change in a thing, often a physical object, that degrades it away from its initial state. It can broadly be defined as "changes introduced into a system that adversely affect its current or future performance".Farrar, C.R., Sohn, H., ...

'' (1992), '' Circle of Friends'' (1995), and as Tom French in ''

I Went Down ''I Went Down'' is a 1997 Irish crime comedy film by director Paddy Breathnach. Plot After serving an eight-month prison sentence for breaking and entering, working class Dublin lad Git Hynes, meets ex-girlfriend Sabrina Bradley, who now pref ...

'' (1997). He played George Ferguson in 10 episodes of Kay Mellor's Band of Gold TV drama from 1995 to 1996. He was married to Sally and was the father of six children including the actress

Susannah Doyle Susannah Doyle (born 5 July 1966) is an English actress, best known for her roles as Joy Merryweather in ''Drop The Dead Donkey'' and as Avril Burke in ''Ballykissangel''. The daughter of the Irish actor Tony Doyle, she realised that she wish ...

Death and legacy

He died at

St Thomas's Hospital St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foun ...

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

, London, England. Brian Quigley, Doyle's ''Ballykissangel'' character, was written out of the show in the first episode of the final series where Quigley fakes his own

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

, supposedly drowning himself and fleeing to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. The Tony Doyle Bursary for New Writing was launched by the BBC following his death. Judges include his friend and ''Ballykissangel'' co-star

Lorcan Cranitch Lorcan Cranitch (born 28 August 1959) is an Irish people, Irish actor. Born in Dublin, Lorcan Cranitch became involved in drama while a student. In 1980 he moved to London, where he trained at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, RADA. Career His fi ...

. Cranitch subsequently starred in the BBC detective series ''

McCready and Daughter ''McCready and Daughter'' was a short-lived British television crime drama, broadcast on BBC One, from 15 June 2000 until 20 July 2001. Just six episodes of the series were produced. The series starred Lorcan Cranitch and Patsy Palmer as Michae ...

'', which had been written with Doyle in mind.Jacques Peretti, "One step beyond", ''The Guardian'', 12 June 2000
Accessed 7 November 2014

Filmography

References

External links

*
BBC News article reporting his deathBBC News obituary to Tony Doyle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Doyle, Tony 1935 births 2000 deaths 20th-century Irish male actors Irish male film actors Irish male soap opera actors Irish male television actors People from County Roscommon