Jack MacGowran

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John Joseph "Jack" MacGowran (born October 13, 1918 in Dublin , Ireland , † January 30, 1973 in New York City ) was an Irish actor .

Life

Jack MacGowran initially worked as an insurance assistant for eight years before moving to the Abbey Theater in Dublin as an actor . There he became a well-known performer of the plays by Samuel Beckett and Seán O'Casey . At the Royal Court Theater in London he starred in Waiting for Godot and at the Aldwych Theater with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Endgame . On the occasion of the 60th birthday of Samuel Beckett the LP MacGowran Speaks Beckett was released.

He made his international film debut in 1952 in John Ford's The Winner at the side of John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara . In the Walt Disney production The Secret of the Haunted Cave , he played an Irish leprechaun called a leprechaun , and in this role in the film he spoke only Gaelic . In 1965 he played a supporting role in David Lean's Oscar-winning period film Doctor Zhivago .

In 1965 Jack MacGowran started working with the director Roman Polański . In the Beckett-inspired film When Katelbach Comes ( Cul de sac ), he played the wounded gangster Albie . His best-known role is that of Professor Abronsius in Polanski's cult horror comedy Dance of the Vampires . He played a similarly bizarre leading role in the following year in the experimental film Wonderwall .

MacGowrans last film was the shocker The Exorcist by William Friedkin . Shortly after filming was finished, Jack MacGowran died of pneumonia. From 1963 until his death he was married to Aileen Gloria Nugent. Their daughter Tara MacGowran (* 1964) is an actress.

Filmography (selection)

literature

  • Jordan R. Young: The Beckett Actor. Jack MacGowran, Beginning to End. Moonstone Press, Beverly Hills, 1987.

Web links

proof

  1. ↑ Lawrence van Gelder: Jack MacGowran, Interpreter Of Beckett and O'Casey, Dead . In: The New York Times, January 31, 1973, accessed March 19, 2018
personal data
SURNAME MacGowran, Jack
ALTERNATIVE NAMES MacGowran, John Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Irish actor
DATE OF BIRTH October 13, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Dublin
DATE OF DEATH January 30, 1973
Place of death New York City