Fred O'Donovan
Encyclopedia
Fred O'Donovan was an Irish
theatre producer and businessman. He worked and associated with, Seán O'Casey
, George Bernard Shaw
, Peter O'Toole
, Maureen Potter
and Siobhán McKenna
, amongst others.
O'Donovan served as Chairman of the RTÉ Authority
between 1981 and 1985. He was a co-founder of the Irish Cancer Society
with Austin Darragh, an achievement he expressed his fondness for before he died.
. In 1948 he was working for the Royal Air Force
when he caught tuberculosis
and was told by Swiss
medical professionals that he would be dead within the year. He survived. Whilst working with the RAF he developed his first taste for showbiz after producing a Paul Robeson
show at Long Kesh
, intended to entertain the military personnel. "It made me realise what a wonderful business it was", he later recalled.
Back in Ireland, he took up jobs in radio and theatre, beginning his new career as an assistant stage manager in the theatre, a position he described as "the lowest form of life". Whilst working on a 1955 production of The Bishop's Bonfire he commenced a close personal relationship with Seán O'Casey
over the telephone, recalling in later life that "I learned more from O’Casey on the phone than anybody". O'Donovan embarked on a trip to London
to meet George Bernard Shaw
with the intention of having his royalty fee decreased; he was refused. He produced The Ed Sullivan Show
when it visited Ireland, insisting on the use of Irish artists, including Maureen Potter
, who received a career boost from the experience.
O'Donovan joined the Irish Theatre Company in the 1970s and achieved recognition as the producer of variety show Gaels of Laughter, which featured Maureen Potter and was performed at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre. Gaels of Laughter returned to the Gaiety Theatre for a one-night tribute show to O'Donovan on 25 January 2010, with Gay Byrne
as host and John McColgan as producer. Other production credits include several Christmas pantomimes, Jury’s Irish Cabaret, The Jack Benny Show and Juno and the Paycock
, which featured Peter O'Toole
, Siobhán McKenna
and Jack MacGowran
. He was the National Concert Hall
's chairman from its opening in 1981 and was a member of the Independent Radio and Television Commission
from its beginnings. He was also a business partner of Denis O'Brien
for a period of time until the two fell out.
On 23 January 2010, in an interview with Fiona McCann for The Irish Times
, he vowed never to write a memoir, though admitted making an attempt only for former taoiseach
Charles Haughey
to "put me off". He ominously expressed his disbelief that he had made it to his eightieth year — "I can’t get used to the fact that I’m alive", he remarked, whilst reflecting on his previous near brush with death.
O'Donovan died at the age of 80. His wife Sally, his daughters (Fiona, Sally Ann, Penny,) his son (Fred jr), his granddaughters (Sarah, Katie, Anna) and his only grandson (Jack Dougal) all outlived him. Tributes came from people including Gate Theatre
director Michael Colgan, veteran broadcaster Gay Byrne
, and Tom Savage
, who was RTÉ Authority Chairman at the time of his death.
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
theatre producer and businessman. He worked and associated with, Seán O'Casey
Seán O'Casey
Seán O'Casey was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes.- Early life:...
, George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
, Peter O'Toole
Peter O'Toole
Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
, Maureen Potter
Maureen Potter
Maria Philomena Potter , known as Maureen Potter, was an acclaimed Irish singer, actor, comedian and performer.-Life:...
and Siobhán McKenna
Siobhán McKenna
Siobhán McKenna was an Irish stage and screen actress.-Background:Born Siobhán Giollamhuire Nic Cionnaith in Belfast, Northern Ireland into a Catholic and nationalist family, she grew up in Galway City and in County Monaghan, Ireland speaking fluent Irish...
, amongst others.
O'Donovan served as Chairman of the RTÉ Authority
RTÉ Board
The RTÉ Board is a seven-member body which makes policy and guiding corporate direction for RTÉ, Ireland's state public broadcaster.Current members of the shortly to be dissolved Authority will now form the interim RTÉ Board until the new appointments procedure is activated by the Minister...
between 1981 and 1985. He was a co-founder of the Irish Cancer Society
Irish Cancer Society
The Irish Cancer Society is the national charity in the Ireland dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem, and improving the lives of those living with cancer ....
with Austin Darragh, an achievement he expressed his fondness for before he died.
Career
O'Donovan was born in Fairview, DublinFairview, Dublin
Fairview is a coastal district on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland, in the jurisdiction of Dublin City Council. Part of the area forms Fairview Park, on land reclaimed from the sea.-Location and access:...
. In 1948 he was working for the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
when he caught tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
and was told by Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
medical professionals that he would be dead within the year. He survived. Whilst working with the RAF he developed his first taste for showbiz after producing a Paul Robeson
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
show at Long Kesh
Maze (HM Prison)
Her Majesty's Prison Maze was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from mid-1971 to mid-2000....
, intended to entertain the military personnel. "It made me realise what a wonderful business it was", he later recalled.
Back in Ireland, he took up jobs in radio and theatre, beginning his new career as an assistant stage manager in the theatre, a position he described as "the lowest form of life". Whilst working on a 1955 production of The Bishop's Bonfire he commenced a close personal relationship with Seán O'Casey
Seán O'Casey
Seán O'Casey was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes.- Early life:...
over the telephone, recalling in later life that "I learned more from O’Casey on the phone than anybody". O'Donovan embarked on a trip to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to meet George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
with the intention of having his royalty fee decreased; he was refused. He produced The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
when it visited Ireland, insisting on the use of Irish artists, including Maureen Potter
Maureen Potter
Maria Philomena Potter , known as Maureen Potter, was an acclaimed Irish singer, actor, comedian and performer.-Life:...
, who received a career boost from the experience.
O'Donovan joined the Irish Theatre Company in the 1970s and achieved recognition as the producer of variety show Gaels of Laughter, which featured Maureen Potter and was performed at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre. Gaels of Laughter returned to the Gaiety Theatre for a one-night tribute show to O'Donovan on 25 January 2010, with Gay Byrne
Gay Byrne
Gabriel Mary "Gay" Byrne is a veteran Irish presenter of radio and television. His most notable role was first host of The Late Late Show over a 37-year period spanning 1962 until 1999...
as host and John McColgan as producer. Other production credits include several Christmas pantomimes, Jury’s Irish Cabaret, The Jack Benny Show and Juno and the Paycock
Juno and the Paycock
Juno and the Paycock is a play by Sean O'Casey, and one of the most highly regarded and oft-performed plays in Ireland. It was first staged at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1924...
, which featured Peter O'Toole
Peter O'Toole
Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
, Siobhán McKenna
Siobhán McKenna
Siobhán McKenna was an Irish stage and screen actress.-Background:Born Siobhán Giollamhuire Nic Cionnaith in Belfast, Northern Ireland into a Catholic and nationalist family, she grew up in Galway City and in County Monaghan, Ireland speaking fluent Irish...
and Jack MacGowran
Jack MacGowran
John Joseph "Jack" MacGowran was an Irish character actor, whose last film role was as the alcoholic director Burke Dennings in The Exorcist. He was probably best known for his work with Samuel Beckett.-Stage career:...
. He was the National Concert Hall
National Concert Hall
The National Concert Hall is a concert hall located on Earlsfort Terrace in Dublin, Ireland, close to St. Stephen's Green, and is the principal national venue for classical music concerts in Ireland....
's chairman from its opening in 1981 and was a member of the Independent Radio and Television Commission
Broadcasting Authority of Ireland
The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland was established on 1 October 2009 effectively replacing the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland ....
from its beginnings. He was also a business partner of Denis O'Brien
Denis O'Brien
Denis O'Brien is an Irish businessman with international connections. An Arts graduate of University College Dublin, O'Brien has received a MBA in corporate finance from Boston College in 1982, and was later given an honorary doctorate by University College Dublin.O'Brien has involvement with...
for a period of time until the two fell out.
On 23 January 2010, in an interview with Fiona McCann for The Irish Times
The Irish Times
The Irish Times is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Kevin O'Sullivan who succeeded Geraldine Kennedy in 2011; the deputy editor is Paul O'Neill. The Irish Times is considered to be Ireland's newspaper of record, and is published every day except Sundays...
, he vowed never to write a memoir, though admitted making an attempt only for former taoiseach
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas , and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.The current Taoiseach is...
Charles Haughey
Charles Haughey
Charles James "Charlie" Haughey was Taoiseach of Ireland, serving three terms in office . He was also the fourth leader of Fianna Fáil...
to "put me off". He ominously expressed his disbelief that he had made it to his eightieth year — "I can’t get used to the fact that I’m alive", he remarked, whilst reflecting on his previous near brush with death.
O'Donovan died at the age of 80. His wife Sally, his daughters (Fiona, Sally Ann, Penny,) his son (Fred jr), his granddaughters (Sarah, Katie, Anna) and his only grandson (Jack Dougal) all outlived him. Tributes came from people including Gate Theatre
Gate Theatre
The Gate Theatre, in Dublin, was founded in 1928 by Hilton Edwards and Micheál Mac Liammóir, initially using the Abbey Theatre's Peacock studio theatre space to stage important works by European and American dramatists...
director Michael Colgan, veteran broadcaster Gay Byrne
Gay Byrne
Gabriel Mary "Gay" Byrne is a veteran Irish presenter of radio and television. His most notable role was first host of The Late Late Show over a 37-year period spanning 1962 until 1999...
, and Tom Savage
Tom Savage (Irish media figure)
Tom Savage is chairman of the RTÉ Board, which oversees Ireland's state broadcaster, and chairman of Irish media consultancy group The Communications Clinic.-Early Years:...
, who was RTÉ Authority Chairman at the time of his death.