Focus: A Film Review (1950-1951)

198 AMERICAN MEMORIES No. 6— DAN O’HERLIHY (This Month’s Cover Personality) By DECLAN FLYNN, O.F.M. To meet a man for a few hours and then to write about him will seem like arrogance, unless you remember that I am just giving a personal impression. Dan O’Herlihy impressed me as a man of considerable charm and intelligence. He is over six feet in height, broad-shouldered, athletic and extremely handsome ; he speaks beautifully, dresses quietly, is very friendly without being “hearty”; he will answer your questions courteously and then will ask you questions about yourself, your work, the friends he knows, the people and the places he knows and you know. I met him last October in a broadcasting studio in Hollywood, when he was playing John Cyril Hawes in the “Hour of St. Francis” programme, which I have already written about in the January' issue of Focus. One moment I was chatting and smoking with him ; the next moment I was watching him playing John Cyril Hawes. I was amazed and fascinated by the rapidity with which he could jump into someone else’s skin. For a moment or so (I was so near to him that I could see his every movement) he seemed a little nervous, then Dan O’Herlihy' disappeared and John Cyril Hawes, mount-guard, waiter on railways, sailor, architect, Anglican missionary in Zanzibar, convert to Catholicism, Catholic priest who built churches in Australia, consecrated bishop, philosopher, poet, archeologist, “Hermit of the Bahamas”, who eventually changed his pontifical robes for the Franciscan habit and his name from John Cyril to Frater Hieronymous, w'as re-created and lived and moved and the amazing story of his life was presented to us. This power to lose oneself is, surely, the distinguishing mark of the great actor. Alec Guinness possesses the power ; so do many of the actors and actresses who have been schooled in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. Dan O’Herlihy achieved fame with the Abbey Players and at the Gate Theatre, Dublin. He was born on May 1st, 1919, at Wexford, Ireland, and went to Dublin when he was two years old. His father was a government official. Dan grew up and waxed strong and was educated at Blackrock College, which is under the care of the Holy Ghost Fathers; from there he graduated to the National University of Ireland. It was while taking part in a University play that he was “discovered” by’ Producer Frank Dermody who offered him the leading role in “Three To Go”. This play launched young O’Herlihy professionally. Later, he went to the Gate Theatre where he appeared in more than 60 plays, acting the lead in half of them. It is interesting to note that it was at the Gate Theatre that his taste for Shakespearian drama was born. He appeared in at least a dozen successes. He also participated in more than 300 broadcasts over Dublin and B.B.C. airwave. “Hell Bent for Heaven”, in which he was the juvenile; “Sun-up”, in which he played the lead; “You Can’t Take It With You”, in which he portrayed the mad Russian ; and the lead in Shaw’s “Joan of Arc” are among the plays in which O’Herlihy' played at the Gate Theatre. To date he has done little film-work. You may remember that he played one of the hold-up men in Odd Man Oxit and also a part in Hungry Hill, with Margaret Lockwood. However, his film-future seems assured. At the moment of writing he is starring as Macduff in Orson Welles’ Macbeth. He is spotlighted opposite Welles (who