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Donal Donnelly (6 July 1931 – 4 January 2010) was an English-born Irish theatre and film actor. He was born in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, but brought up in Dublin, Ireland.

Donal Donnelly attended school at Synge Street Christian Brothers School in Dublin where he acted in school plays with Milo O'Shea, Eamonn Andrews, Jack McGowran, Bernard Frawley (Seattle Repertory Co.) and Jimmy Fitzsimons (brother of Maureen O'Hara), under the direction of famous elocution teacher, Ena Burke.

Donnelly toured with Anew McMaster's Irish repertory company before moving to England where he starred with Rita Tushingham in the film The Knack …and How to Get It

Reginald Gray's caractature of Donal Donnelly on the poster for his double role in "Nekrassov" by Jean Paul Sartre. Gate Theatre, Dublin.1956.

His breakthrough role came when he was cast as Gar Private in the world premiere of Brian Friel’s Philadelphia, Here I Come! directed by Hilton Edwards for the Gate Theatre at the Dublin Theatre Festival in 1964. The production subsequently transferred to Broadway where it played for over 300 performances and established Donnelly and Patrick Bedford – who played his alter-ego Gar Public – as formidable new talents to be reckoned with. They were jointly nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play in 1966. Donnelly returned to Broadway a number of times, replacing Albert Finney in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg in 1968, playing Milo Tindle in Anthony Shaffer's Sleuth and appearing as Frederick Treves opposite David Bowie as The Elephant Man. He also renewed his relationship with Brian Friel, appearing in the world premieres of Volunteers at the Abbey Theatre in 1975 and Faith Healer with James Mason (Longacre Theatre, NYC) in 1979 as well as the Broadway premieres of Dancing at Lughnasa in 1991 and Translations in 1995.

His film roles included Archbishop Gilday in The Godfather Part III and he gained particular acclaim for his performance as Freddy Malins in John Huston’s final work The Dead based on the short story by James Joyce. On television, he played the lead role of Matthew Browne in the 1970s ITV sitcom Yes Honestly, opposite Liza Goddard.

For many years he toured a one-man performance of the writings of George Bernard Shaw, adapted and directed by Michael Voysey and entitled My Astonishing Self. He was an acclaimed audiobook reader whose catalog includes Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary, and several audio versions of the works of James Joyce. In 1968, he recorded an album of Irish songs "Take the Name of Donnelly" (Decca DL 75029) which was arranged, produced and conducted by Tony Meehan formerly of the Shadows.

He died in Chicago, Illinois on 4 January 2010 from cancer,^[1] aged 78, and is survived by his wife, Patsy, and two sons.^[2]

Partial filmography[link]

• The Rising of the Moon (1957)
• Shake Hands with the Devil (1959)
• I'm All Right Jack (1959)
• The Informers (1963)
• Young Cassidy (1965)
• The Knack ...and How to Get It (1965)
• The Mind of Mr. Soames (1970)
• Waterloo (1970)
• The Dead (1987)
• Twister (1989)
• The Godfather Part III (1990)
• Mesmer (1994)
• Words Upon the Window Pane (1994)
• Squanto: A Warrior's Tale (1994) - Brother Paul
• Love and Rage (1998)
• This Is My Father (1998)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Donal Donnelly at Find a Grave
• Donal Donnelly at the Internet Movie Database
• Donal Donnelly at the Internet Broadway Database
• Obituary in The Guardian
• Obituary in The Times
• Obituary in The Irish Independent

James Edward Marshall (October 10, 1942 – October 13, 1992), who also wrote as Edward Marshall, was a children's author and illustrator.

Marshall was born in San Antonio, Texas, where he grew up on his family's farm. His father worked on the railroad, was a band member in the 1930s, and his mother sang in the local church choir. His family later moved to Beaumont, Texas. Marshall said: "Beaumont is deep south and swampy and I hated it. I knew I would die if I stayed there so I diligently studied the viola, and eventually won a scholarship to the New England Conservatory in Boston."^[1] He entered the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, but injured his hand, ending his music career. He returned to Texas, where he attended San Antonio College, and later transferred to Southern Connecticut State University where he received degrees in French and history. He lived between an apartment in the Chelsea district of New York City and a home in Mansfield Hollow, Connecticut.

Career[link]

It is said that he discovered his vocation on a 1971 summer afternoon, lying on a hammock and drawing. His mother was watching Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, and the main characters, George and Martha, ultimately became characters in one of his children's books (as two hippopotami). Marshall continued as a children's author until his untimely death in 1992 of a brain tumor. In 1998, George and Martha became the basis for an eponymous animated children's television show.

Marshall was a friend of Maurice Sendak, who mentions him as the "last in the line" of children's writers for whom children's books were a cottage industry. Sendak said that Marshall was "uncommercial to a fault" and, as a consequence, was little recognized by the awards committees. (Marshall won a University of Mississippi Silver Medallion in 1992, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears was a Caldecott Honor Book in 1989.) Sendak said that in Marshall you got "the whole man", who "scolded, gossiped, bitterly reproached, but always loved and forgave" and "made me laugh until I cried." In 2007, the American Library Association posthumously honored Marshall with the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for his "substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children."

In addition to George and Martha, the lovable hippopotami, James Marshall created dozens of other uniquely appealing characters. He is well known for his Fox series (which he wrote as "Edward Marshall"), as well as the Miss Nelson books (or Miss Viola Swamp, written by Harry Allard), The Stupids (written by Allard), the Cut-ups, and many more. James Marshall had the uncanny ability to elicit wild delight from readers with relatively little text and simple drawings. With only two minute dots for eyes, his illustrated characters are able to express a wide range of emotion, and produce howls of laughter from both children and adults.

Bibliography[link]

References[link]

1. ^ Greenville Public Library biography

External links[link]

• Guide to the James Marshall papers at the University of Oregon
• Greenville Public Library biography