Vincent Gerard Dowling (7 September 1929 – 9 May 2013) was an Irish actor and director.

Ireland

Dowling was born in Dublin and educated at St Mary's College and Rathmines College of Commerce. He came to prominence in the 1950s for his role as Christy Kennedy in the long-running radio soap opera, ''

The Kennedys of Castleross ''The Kennedys of Castleross'' was an Irish serial drama or soap opera, about a family from Castleross, broadcast on Raidió Éireann from 1955 to 1973. The serial was devised by Arks advertising agency on behalf of its client, Fry-Cadbury. T ...

'' and as a member of the

Abbey Theatre The Abbey Theatre ( ga, Amharclann na Mainistreach), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland ( ga, Amharclann Náisiúnta na hÉireann), in Dublin, Ireland, is one of the country's leading cultural institutions. First opening to the p ...

company. He returned to the Abbey as artistic director from 1987 to 1990.

United States

Dowling emigrated to the United States and was artistic and producing director of The Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival (GLSF) in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

from 1976 to 1984,Vincent Dowling, Curriculum Vitae: Summary
where he directed, produced and acted in many classical works, by Shakespeare and others. He is credited with discovering actor

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

. Dowling received an Ohio Valley local Emmy for the 1983

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

broadcast of his 1982 GLSF production of ''

The Playboy of the Western World ''The Playboy of the Western World'' is a three-act play written by Irish playwright John Millington Synge and first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on 26 January 1907. It is set in Michael James Flaherty's public house in County Mayo (o ...

''. He was

visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

The College of Wooster The College of Wooster is a private liberal arts college in Wooster, Ohio. Founded in 1866 by the Presbyterian Church as the University of Wooster, it has been officially non-sectarian since 1969 when ownership ties with the Presbyterian Churc ...

in Ohio during the 1986-87 academic year. He founded the Miniature Theatre of Chester (now the Chester Theatre Company), in

Chester, Massachusetts Chester is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, situated in Western Massachusetts. It is part of the Springfield metropolitan statistical area. The town includes the Chester Factory Village Historic District. The total popula ...

, in 1990.

Personal life

Dowling married actress Brenda Doyle in 1952; they had four daughters, including actress Bairbre Dowling, before divorcing in 1975. In 1975, Dowling married Olwen O'Herlihy, with whom he had a son. Politician

Richard Boyd Barrett Richard Boyd Barrett (born 6 February 1967) is an Irish People Before Profit/Solidarity politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dún Laoghaire constituency since the 2011 general election. Boyd Barrett is a former member of Dún ...

was the biological son of Dowling and recording artist and actress Sinéad Cusack from a 1966 relationship while both were at the Abbey Theatre; Boyd Barrett was adopted as an infant. Dowling contacted Boyd Barrett after his connection with Cusack was publicly revealed in 2007. Their relationship was made known after his death in 2013. Dowling published an autobiography in 2000. His papers, from 1976 onward, are housed at the

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in ...

and

John Carroll University John Carroll University is a private Jesuit university in University Heights, Ohio. It is primarily an undergraduate, liberal arts institution accompanied by the John M. and Mary Jo Boler College of Business. John Carroll has an enrollment of 3 ...

libraries.

Selected filmography

* ''

My Wife's Lodger ''My Wife's Lodger'' is a 1952 British comedy film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Dominic Roche, Olive Sloane and Leslie Dwyer. The screenplay concerns a who soldier returns home after the Second World War only to find a spiv lodger has e ...

'' (1952)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dowling, Vincent Irish male film actors Irish male stage actors Irish emigrants to the United States Irish male radio actors 1929 births 2013 deaths People educated at St Mary's College, Dublin