Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Deirdre O'Connell

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Spouse
  
Luke Kelly (m. 1965)

TV shows
  
Sirens

Full Name
  
Eleanore Deirdre O'Connell

Born
  
16 June 1939 (
1939-06-16
)
South Bronx, New York, United States

Other names
  
Actress, singer, theatre director

Died
  
9 June 2001, Dublin, Republic of Ireland

Other name
  
Actress, singer, theatre director

Books
  
The Ballad of Blind Tom, The Ballad of Blind Tom, Slave Pianist

Similar
  
Luke Kelly, Arthur Griffith, Ann Lewis Hamilton, Cathal Brugha

Eleanore Deirdre O'Connell (16 June 1939 – 9 June 2001) was an Irish American actress, singer, and theatre director who founded the Focus Theatre in Dublin, Ireland.

Biography

O'Connell was born in the South Bronx district of New York, one of five children whose parents were Irish immigrants. When she finished school, she pursued her interest in theatre studying first at Erwin Piscator's Dramatic Workshop, New York, and later at the Actors Studio run by Lee Strasberg. In her early twenties, O'Connell moved to Dublin, Ireland, where she set up the Stanislavski Studio at the Pocket Theatre. There she trained a small company of actors in Stanislavski's system. In 1967, she founded the Focus Theatre, becoming its manager, artistic director, and fundraiser—as well as acting in many of its productions.

She was a noted folk-singer and performed at the Newport Folk Festival. She married the Irish singer Luke Kelly in June 1965, but they separated in the early 1970s.

O'Connell died of cancer at her home in Dublin at the age of 61 and is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.

References

Deirdre O'Connell Wikipedia