Hugh Leonard
Hugh Leonard | |
---|---|
Born | John Joseph Byrne 9 November 1926 Dublin, Ireland |
Died | 12 February 2009 (aged 82) Dalkey, Ireland |
Occupation | Writer |
Notable works | The Au Pair Man Da A Life |
Spouse | Paule Byrne (d. 2000) Katharine Hayes |
Children | 1 |
Website | |
hughleonardplaywright |
Hugh Leonard (9 November 1926 – 12 February 2009) was an Irish dramatist, television writer, and essayist. In a career that spanned 50 years, Leonard wrote nearly 30 full-length plays, 10 one-act plays, three volumes of essay, two autobiographies, three novels, numerous screenplays and teleplays, and a regular newspaper column.
Life and career
Leonard was born in Dublin as John Joseph Byrne, but was put up for adoption. Raised in Dalkey, an affluent suburb of Dublin, by Nicholas and Margaret Keyes, he changed his name to John Keyes Byrne.[1][2] For the rest of his life, despite the pen name of "Hugh Leonard", which he later adopted and by which became well known, he invited close friends to call him "Jack".[3]
Leonard was educated at the Harold Boys' National School, Dalkey, and
He moved to
During the 1960s and 1970s, Leonard was the first major Irish writer to establish a reputation in television[6] writing extensively for television, including original plays, comedies, thrillers, and adaptations of classic novels for British television. He was commissioned by RTÉ to write Insurrection, a 50th-anniversary dramatic reconstruction of the Irish uprising of Easter 1916.[7] Leonard's Silent Song, adapted for the BBC from a short story by Frank O'Connor, won the Prix Italia in 1967.[8] He wrote the script for the RTÉ adaptation of Strumpet City by James Plunkett.[7]
Three of Leonard's plays have been presented on Broadway: The Au Pair Man (1973), which starred
In 1984, Leonard discovered his accountant Russell Murphy had embezzled IR£258,000 from him.[1][4] Leonard was particularly upset that Murphy had used his money to take clients to the theatre and purchased expensive seats at some of Leonard's plays.[4]
Leonard wrote two volumes of autobiography, Home Before Night (1979) and Out After Dark (1989).[1] Some of his essays and journalism were collected in Leonard's Last Book (1978) and A Peculiar People and Other Foibles (1979). In 1992 the Selected Plays of Hugh Leonard was published. Until 2006 he wrote a humorous weekly column, "The Curmudgeon", for the Irish Sunday Independent newspaper. He had a passion for cats and restaurants, and an abhorrence of broadcaster Gay Byrne.[14]
In 1994, Leonard gave a review of Katie Roche
Even after retiring as a Sunday Independent columnist, Leonard displayed an acerbic humour. In an interview with
In 1994, Leonard appeared in a televised interview with Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Féin, an Irish political party associated with the Provisional Irish Republican Army.[16] Leonard had long been an opponent of paramilitary groups and a critic of the IRA.[1] However, on the show and afterwards he was criticised for being "sanctimonious and theatrical" towards Adams; at one point he referred to Sinn Féin as "dogs".[17][18][19]
Hugh Leonard- Odd Man In, a film on his life and work, shown on RTÉ in March 2009. Leonard's final play, Magicality, was not performed during his lifetime; a rehearsed reading of the second act was staged at the Dalkey Castle and Heritage Centre in June 2012.[20]
Leonard died in his hometown, Dalkey, aged 82, after a long illness,[21] leaving €1.5 million in his will.[22]
Awards
- Writers Guild of Great Britain – Award of Merit for Silent Song, 1966
- Prix Italia for original dramatic television programs – for Silent Song 1967
- Jacob's Television Award for adaptations of Wuthering Heights and Nicholas Nickleby, 1969
- Antoinette Perry Award (Tony) nomination for best play – The Au Pair Man, 1973/74
- Antoinette Perry Award (Tony) award for best play – Da, 1977/78
- Drama Desk Award for outstanding new play – Da, 1977/78
- New York Drama Critics Circle Award for the best play – Da, 1977/78
- Outer Critics Circle Award for the Most Outstanding Play of the New York Season – Da, 1977/78
- Harvey's Irish Theatre Award for A Life – best new play, 1979/80
- Rhode Island College – honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, 1980
- University of Dublin – honorary Doctorate of Letters, 1988
- Society of Authors Sagittarius Prize – novel for Parnell and the Englishwoman, 1992
- The Abbey Theatre Award, 1999
Source:[23]
Works
|
Novels[29]
Essays[30]
Autobiography
Film screenplays[31]
Radio plays[32]
|
Reviews
- Those crazy cat days in their cradle (1994)
Television plays
|
Episodic television
|
References
- ^ a b c d e f g "Playwright with full mastery of his craft", The Irish Times, obituary section, 14 February 2009, retrieved 16 February 2009
- ^ New York Times(12 February 2009)
- New York Times(12 February 2009)
- ^ a b c d "Hugh Leonard". The Daily Telegraph. London. 12 February 2009. Retrieved 16 February 2009.
- ^ "The Abbey Theatre Archive".
- ^ Fintan, O'Toole (13 February 2009). Irish Times.
{{cite news}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ RTÉ News, 12 February 2009, retrieved 12 February 2009
- ^ "Prix Italia Winners" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
- ^ Hugh Leonard at the Internet Broadway Database
- ProQuest 148357040. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
- ^ "Da". IBDB.com. Internet Broadway Database.
- ^ IBDB Da:Awards
- IMDb
- ^ a b Sunday Independent, "Portrait of the legendary artist as an 80-year-old", 12 November 2006
- ^ "The Teresa Deevy Archive".[permanent dead link]
- ^ http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//UTV/1994/10/28/UTV19941028005/?s=rte Gerry Adams on the Late Late Show With Gay Byrne
- YouTube
- YouTube
- YouTube
- ^ 98FM [1] retrieved 24 November 2012
- ^ "Irish dramatist Hugh Leonard dies". BBC News. 12 February 2009.
- ^ Collins, Liam (11 October 2009). "Playwright Hugh Leonard leaves €1.5m estate". Irish Independent.
- ^ "Awards and honorary degrees of Hugh Leonard". 16 February 2013. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
- ^ Playography Ireland entry for Hugh Leonard [2], retrieved 11 November 2012
- ^ The Agency (London) Ltd Client List Archived 3 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Filmed as Broth of a Boy (1959)
- ^ An adaptation of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Stephen Hero, by James Joyce
- ^ An adaptation of The Dalkey Archive by Flann O'Brien
- ^ A Wild People and Fillums published by Methuen
- ^ "Prose work of Hugh Leonard". 13 February 2014. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
- ^ IMDb entry for Hugh Leonard
- ^ RTE statement on death of Hugh Leonard, retrieved 6 January 2013
External links
- Hugh Leonard at Irish Writers Online
- Hugh Leonard at Irish Playography
- Hugh Leonard at the Internet Broadway Database
- Hugh Leonard at IMDb
- Hugh Leonard at the Teresa Deevy Archive