Rosaleen Linehan
Encyclopedia
Rosaleen Linehan is an Irish
stage, screen and television actress.
She has appeared in many comedy revues written by her husband Fergus. She has appeared onstage in, among other plays, Blithe Spirit
, House of Bernarda Alba and Twelfth Night She was nominated for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role as Kate in Brian Friel
's Dancing at Lughnasa
at the 1992 Tony Awards. She starred as Winnie in Samuel Beckett
's Happy Days
on stage and on screen as part of the Beckett on Film
project, having already played the role in a 1996 production at The Gate Theatre
opposite Barry McGovern
.
In 1972, Linehan won a Jacob's Award
for her RTÉ Radio
comedy series Get an Earful of This. She was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Irish Theatre Awards in 2008.
In film, she has appeared as Nurse Callan in Ulysses
, May Dedalus in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
, Aunt Fitzeustace in Fools of Fortune
, Mrs Canning in The Butcher Boy
, Peggy Owens in About Adam
, Mrs Matson in The Hi-Lo Country
and Millie O'Dowd in The Matchmaker
. In television, she was a voice artist on the Irish language
children's TV series Inis Cúil in 2005, appeared in Hugh Leonard
's BBC sitcom Me Mammy
and most recently played Deirdre O Kane's mother in Bitter Sweet
.
was a Teachta Dála
for Donegal from 1927 to 1961.
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
stage, screen and television actress.
She has appeared in many comedy revues written by her husband Fergus. She has appeared onstage in, among other plays, Blithe Spirit
Blithe Spirit (play)
Blithe Spirit is a comic play written by Noël Coward which takes its title from Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "To a Skylark" . The play concerns socialite and novelist Charles Condomine, who invites the eccentric medium and clairvoyant, Madame Arcati, to his house to conduct a séance, hoping to...
, House of Bernarda Alba and Twelfth Night She was nominated for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role as Kate in Brian Friel
Brian Friel
Brian Friel is an Irish dramatist, author and director of the Field Day Theatre Company. He is considered to be the greatest living English-language dramatist, hailed by the English-speaking world as an "Irish Chekhov" and "the universally accented voice of Ireland"...
's Dancing at Lughnasa
Dancing at Lughnasa
Dancing at Lughnasa is a 1990 play by dramatist Brian Friel set in Ireland's County Donegal in August 1936 in the fictional town of Ballybeg. It is a memory play told from the point of view of the adult Michael Evans, the narrator...
at the 1992 Tony Awards. She starred as Winnie in Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
's Happy Days
Happy Days (play)
Happy Days is a play in two acts, written in English, by Samuel Beckett. He began the play on 8 October 1960 and it was completed on 14 May 1961. Beckett finished the translation into French by November 1962 but amended the title...
on stage and on screen as part of the Beckett on Film
Beckett on Film
Beckett on Film was a project aimed at making film versions of all nineteen of Samuel Beckett's stage plays, with the exception of the early and unperformed Eleutheria. This endeavour was successfully completed, with the first films being shown in 2001.The project was conceived by Michael Colgan,...
project, having already played the role in a 1996 production at The 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...
opposite Barry McGovern
Barry McGovern
Barry McGovern is an Irish stage, film and television actor. He was educated at Castleknock College, Dublin.-Background:McGovern is a former member of the RTÉ Players and the Abbey Theatre Company. He has worked in theatre, film, radio and television, as well as written music for many shows, and...
.
In 1972, Linehan won a Jacob's Award
Jacob's Awards
The Jacob's Awards were instituted in December 1962 as the first Irish television awards. Later, they were expanded to include radio. The awards were named after their sponsor, W. & R. Jacob & Co. Ltd., a biscuit manufacturer, and recipients were selected by Ireland's national newspaper television...
for her RTÉ Radio
RTÉ Radio
RTÉ Radio is a department of Irish national broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. RTÉ Radio broadcasts four analogue channels and five digital channels....
comedy series Get an Earful of This. She was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Irish Theatre Awards in 2008.
In film, she has appeared as Nurse Callan in Ulysses
Ulysses (1955 film)
Ulysses is a 1955 adventure film based on Homer's poem Odyssey. The movie was made by director Mario Camerini, who co-wrote the screenplay with writer Franco Brusati, aided by Mario Bava ....
, May Dedalus in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a semi-autobiographical novel by James Joyce, first serialised in the magazine The Egoist from 1914 to 1915, and published first in book format in 1916 by B. W. Huebsch, New York. The first English edition was published by the Egoist Press in February 1917...
, Aunt Fitzeustace in Fools of Fortune
Fools of Fortune
Fools of Fortune is a 1990 British drama film directed by Pat O'Connor and starring Iain Glen, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Julie Christie, Amy Joyce Hastings and Michael Kitchen. It depicts a Protestant family caught up in the conflict between the British army and the IRA during the Irish War of...
, Mrs Canning in The Butcher Boy
The Butcher Boy
The Butcher Boy is a 1992 novel by Patrick McCabe. It was shortlisted for the 1992 Booker Prize and won the 1992 Irish Times Irish Literature Prize for Fiction.The Butcher Boy is set in a small town in Ireland in the late 1950s...
, Peggy Owens in About Adam
About Adam
About Adam is a 2000 Irish/British/American romantic comedy film written and directed by Gerard Stembridge. The screenplay focuses on the effect a seductive young man has on four siblings.-Synopsis:...
, Mrs Matson in The Hi-Lo Country
The Hi-Lo Country
The Hi-Lo Country is a 1998 American Western/drama film directed by Stephen Frears, starring Billy Crudup, Woody Harrelson, Cole Hauser, Sam Elliott, Patricia Arquette, Penelope Cruz, Enrique Castillo, and Katy Jurado...
and Millie O'Dowd in The Matchmaker
The Matchmaker
The Matchmaker is a play by Thornton Wilder.The play has a long and colorful history. John Oxenford's 1835 one-act farce A Day Well Spent had been extended into a full-length play entitled Einen Jux will er sich machen by Austrian playwright Johann Nestroy in 1842...
. In television, she was a voice artist on the Irish language
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
children's TV series Inis Cúil in 2005, appeared in Hugh Leonard
Hugh Leonard
Hugh Leonard was an Irish dramatist, television writer and essayist. In a career that spanned 50 years, Leonard wrote more than 18 plays, two volumes of essays and two autobiographies, one novel and numerous screenplays and teleplays, as well as writing a regular newspaper column.-Life and...
's BBC sitcom Me Mammy
Me Mammy
Me Mammy is a British sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1968 to 1971. Starring Milo O'Shea, it was written by Hugh Leonard.-Background:Me Mammy first aired as pilot within the seventh series of the BBC's Comedy Playhouse. The pilot and first series were made in black-and-white...
and most recently played Deirdre O Kane's mother in Bitter Sweet
Bitter Sweet (TV drama)
Bitter Sweet is an Irish television drama produced by Element Pictures for RTÉ. It follows the difficulties encountered by three female friends who undergo difficult changes to their respective lives. The drama was broadcast on RTÉ One on 23 March 2008, an Easter Sunday, at 21:30. It is written and...
.
Family
Linehan her husband live in Dublin and they have four children, and seven grandchildren. Her father Daniel McMenaminDaniel McMenamin
Daniel McMenamin was an Irish politician and barrister. McMenamin first stood for election at the 1918 general election as an Irish Parliamentary Party candidate for the Donegal West constituency but was defeated by Sinn Féin's Joseph Sweeney. He stood as an independent candidate at the 1923...
was a Teachta Dála
Teachta Dála
A Teachta Dála , usually abbreviated as TD in English, is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas . It is the equivalent of terms such as "Member of Parliament" or "deputy" used in other states. The official translation of the term is "Deputy to the Dáil", though a more literal...
for Donegal from 1927 to 1961.