Ray McAnally

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Ray McAnally (born March 30, 1926 in Buncrana , Ireland , † June 15, 1989 in County Wicklow , Ireland) was an Irish actor . He achieved particular fame with the films Mission , My Left Foot and the film adaptation of Alan Platter's A Very British Coup .

life and career

Ray McAnally was born in 1926 in Buncrana, a town on the Inishowen Peninsula in County Donegal , Ireland , to a bank clerk. He attended St. Eunan's College in Letterkenny at the age of 18, but soon left the seminary when he realized that the priesthood was not his calling. Instead, he went to the Abbey Theater in Dublin in 1947 , where he met actress Ronnie Masterson and married shortly thereafter.

Together they founded Old Quay Productions , with which they performed a number of classic pieces during the 1960s and 70s. He made his theater debut in 1962 with A Nice Bunch of Cheap Flowers . As George McAnally appeared in Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the side of Constance Cumings in the Piccadilly Theater .

Although his face was also known through television, where he regularly appeared in crime series such as Mit Schirm, Charme und Melone , Man in a Suitcase and Strange Report , he remained largely loyal to the theater and played mainly at the Abbey Theater. In the last ten years of his life, his work in film and television has been recognized by various awards. He received a BAFTA Award for his portrayal of Cardinal Altamirano in Mission and an RTS Television Award for his role as Richard Thomas Pym in the multi-part television series A Perfect Spy based on the novel by John le Carré .

In 1988 he won a second BAFTA award for his performance in A Very British Coup . This film also earned him a Jacob's Award. In the same year he played the role of Jack the Ripper in the television adaptation of the same name alongside Michael Caine . In the last year of his life he played the father of the painter Christy Brown in the Oscar-winning film Mein Linker Fuß , for which he received his third BAFTA award posthumously in 1990 .

On June 15, 1989, aged 63, Ray McAnally died of a heart attack in the home he shared with actress Britta Smith (by which time he had been divorced from Ronnie Masterson for several years). McAnally was the father of four children. His son Aongus followed in his footsteps and became a television announcer, while his daughter Maire joined the Dominican Order .

Awards and nominations

Awards received

  • 1987: Evening Standard British Film Award / Best Actor / Mission
  • 1987: British Academy Film Award / Best Supporting Actor / Mission
  • 1988: RTS Television Award / Best Male Actor / A Perfect Spy
  • 1989: British Academy Television Award / Best Actor / A Very British Coup
  • 1989: Jacob's Award / Best Actor / A Very British Coup
  • 1990: British Academy Film Award / Best Supporting Actor / My Left Foot (awarded posthumously)

Nominations

  • 1988: British Academy Television Award / Best Actor / A Perfect Spy

Filmography (selection)

Web links