Niall O'Brien (actor)
Niall O'Brien (8 February 1946 – 25 February 2009) was an Irish actor and member of the Abbey Theatre company, where he appeared in 130 productions. He also appeared in many films and television programmes. Early life O'Brien was born to Maureen (née Wright) and Michael O'Brien on 8 February 1946. He was the youngest of five children. He was born in Dalkey village, County Dublin, and grew up in nearby Glasthule. He was educated at the CBS Westland Row, Dublin, before going on to join the Abbey School of acting. Career After completing his Leaving Certificate, O'Brien started a building apprenticeship. Upon being accepted to the Abbey School of acting in the mid-1960s however, he took a year out of his apprenticeship to try a career as an actor and never went back to the construction industry. In his career as an Abbey actor he took part in 130 theatre productions, including 27 world premiers. His first part was in the play ''Galileo'' in 1965. His last Abbey performanc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Abbey Theatre
The Abbey Theatre (), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland () is a theatre in Dublin, Ireland. First opening to the public on 27 December 1904, and moved from its original building after a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the present day. The Abbey was the first state-subsidized theatre in the English-speaking world; from 1925 onwards it received an annual subsidy from the Irish Free State. Since July 1966, the Abbey has been located at 26 Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1. In its early years, the theatre was closely associated with the writers of the Irish Literary Revival, many of whom were involved in its founding and most of whom had plays staged there. The Abbey served as a nursery for many of leading Irish playwrights, including William Butler Yeats, Lady Gregory, Seán O'Casey and John Millington Synge, as well as leading actors. In addition, through its extensive programme of touring abroad and its high visibility to foreign, particularly American, audie ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Gorky Park (film)
''Gorky Park'' is a 1983 American mystery thriller film directed by Michael Apted and adapted by Dennis Potter from the 1981 novel of the same name. It stars William Hurt, Lee Marvin, Joanna Pacuła (in her first American film), Rikki Fulton, Brian Dennehy, Ian McDiarmid, Richard Griffiths, Michael Elphick and Ian Bannen. The plot follows Arkady Renko (Hurt), a Moscow police investigator, on the trail of a gruesome triple murder that leads him into a web of government corruption. Upon release, ''Gorky Park'' was a box office disappointment, barely earning back its $15 million budget, but received positive reviews from critics. Pacuła was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture and Elphick for a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. Dennis Potter won a 1984 Edgar Award for his screenplay for the film. Plot Moscow ''militsiya'' officer Arkady Renko is called to a clearing near the Gorky Park ice rink, where three bodies ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Conspiracy Of Silence (2003 Film)
''Conspiracy of Silence'' is a British drama film set in Ireland and inspired by real events. The film challenges celibacy and its implication for the Catholic Church in the 21st century. Written and directed by John Deery, the cast includes: Academy Award-winner Brenda Fricker, Hugh Bonneville, Chris O'Dowd, John Lynch, Jonathan Forbes, Jason Barry, Sean McGinley, Fintan McKeown, Jim Norton and Hugh Quarshie. The movie won many international awards including the U.S. National Board of Review of Motion Pictures' Freedom of Expression Award in 2004, which it shared with Michael Moore's ''Fahrenheit 9/11'' and Mel Gibson's ''The Passion of the Christ''. Deery was also nominated for Best Film Director at the Irish Film Awards in 2003. The screenplay was developed at the Sundance Screenwriters' Lab in Utah and won the Hartley-Merrill International Screenwriting Award presented to Deery at the Cannes Film Festival in 2001. The film was invited to be shown at many film festiv ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Goldfish Memory
''Goldfish Memory'' is a 2003 Irish feature film about everyday relationships, set and filmed in Dublin. It was written and directed by Elizabeth Gill. Plot The movie is set around a small group of characters experiencing relationships which build and crumble before the viewers' eyes. The title of the film refers to the belief, expressed by several of characters, that the goldfish retains a memory of something for only three seconds. Tom, one of the principal characters in the film, draws comparisons between this and the human tendency to jump from one relationship to the next, "forgetting" the pain that any previous one might have caused. The film shows complexities involved in straight, gay, lesbian, and bisexual relationships. Writer/director Liz Gill says the film was influenced by the work of directors Robert Altman and Richard Linklater, particularly Linklater's film ''Slacker''. Cast * Sean Campion as Tom * Fiona O'Shaughnessy as Clara * Fiona Glascott as Isolde * Peter G ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
The Emperor's New Clothes (2001 Film)
''The Emperor's New Clothes'' is a 2001 historical drama film directed by Alan Taylor and based on the 1992 novel ''The Death of Napoleon'' by Simon Leys. The film stars Ian Holm as Napoleon Bonaparte (his third performance as the military and political leader, after 1974's '' Napoleon and Love'' and 1981's ''Time Bandits''), Iben Hjejle, and Tim McInnerny. The plot revisions the history surrounding Napoleon's exile to Saint Helena following his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. Although set in Paris, the film was mostly shot in Turin, Italy. Plot In 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte, after six years in exile on the isle of Saint Helena, has a plan to escape. Switching places with lowly French deckhand Eugene Lenormand, Napoleon will make his way to Paris, at which time Eugene will announce the switch, allowing Napoleon to reclaim his throne. However, the plan quickly goes awry: the ship Napoleon is serving on abruptly changes its itinerary and docks in Belgium instead of France. Havi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Rat (film)
''Rat'' is a 2000 comedy film directed by Steve Barron and starring Imelda Staunton and Pete Postlethwaite. The film focuses on the transformation of a working-class man into a rat and how his family copes with the startling change. The film's scenario is partly based on Franz Kafka's ''The Metamorphosis''. Plot After his usual night of drinking at the local pub, Hubert Flynn (Pete Postlethwaite) returns home and transforms into a rat. Hubert's family each have different views on him now that he became a rodent. His wife Conchita (Imelda Staunton) thinks that this change is supposed to be a lesson to Hubert and that the reason he transformed is his own fault. Their son Pius ( Andrew Lovern), destined for a religious life, feels that because his father is now an animal, his family should kill him. Their daughter Marietta (Kerry Condon) feels that the rat is still her father and that they should treat him with love and respect. After hearing the news of a man changing into a rat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
When Brendan Met Trudy
''When Brendan Met Trudy'' is a 2000 Irish film directed by Kieron J. Walsh and starring Peter McDonald and Flora Montgomery. It was written by Roddy Doyle. The screenplay concerns a Dublin schoolteacher who falls in love with a mysterious young woman who turns out to be a thief. Plot Brendan ( Peter McDonald) is a shy, reserved teacher who takes his profession seriously. Away from the classroom, he has a love of films and classical music. One night, after practicing with his church choir, he meets Trudy (Flora Montgomery), a bright, witty and free-spirited woman whom he believes is a Montessori teacher. Despite the differences in their personalities, the two begin a relationship. Brendan is unaware that his new girlfriend is actually a burglar, and is shocked when Trudy asks him to prove his love by helping her on one of her 'jobs'. Brendan is torn between his feelings for Trudy, and the desire to do what is right. Throughout his relationship with her, Brendan slowly begins to d ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
The Legend Of 1900
''The Legend of 1900'' (, "The Legend of the Pianist on the Ocean") is a 1998 Italian English-language drama film directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, and starring Tim Roth, Pruitt Taylor Vince and Mélanie Thierry. It was Tornatore's first English-language film. The film is inspired by '' Novecento'', a monologue by Alessandro Baricco. The film was nominated for a variety of awards worldwide, winning several for its soundtrack. Plot The story is told in the midst of the plot as a series of flashbacks. Musician Max Tooney enters a music shop and sells his old Conn trumpet. Clearly torn at parting from his prized possession, he asks to play it one last time. The shopkeeper agrees and, as he plays, the vendor recognizes the song as the same as recorded on a record matrix (master disc) he found. He asks who the piece is by and Max tells him the story of 1900. A baby boy is found abandoned in the first class dining room of the four stacker ocean liner SS ''Virginian''. Danny Boo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Braveheart
''Braveheart'' is a 1995 American epic film, epic historical drama, historical war drama film directed and produced by Mel Gibson, who portrays Scottish warrior William Wallace in the First War of Scottish Independence against Edward I of England, King Edward I of England. The film also stars Sophie Marceau, Patrick McGoohan, Catherine McCormack and Angus Macfadyen. The story is inspired by Blind Harry's 15th century epic poetry, epic poem ''The Wallace (poem), The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace'' and was adapted for the screen by Randall Wallace. Development on the film initially started at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) when producer Alan Ladd Jr. picked up the project from Wallace, but when MGM was going through new management, Ladd left the studio and took the project with him. Despite initially declining, Gibson eventually decided to direct the film and to star as Wallace. The film, which was produced by Gibson's Icon Productions a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Ailsa (film)
''Ailsa'' is a 1994 Irish film directed by Paddy Breathnach and starring Brendan Coyle and Andrea Irvine. His first feature film, it garnered Breathnach the Euskal Media Award for best new director at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. The film also received nominations at the Stockholm Film Festival and the Torino International Festival of Young Cinema. The style and theme of ''Ailsa'' was generally perceived as "European". It was released at a time when the Irish film industry was experiencing enormous growth. It is based on a short story by the Irish novelist Joseph O'Connor. Cast * Brendan Coyle as Miles Butler * Andrea Irvine as Sara * Juliette Gruber as Campbell Rourke * Gary Lydon Gary Lydon is a British-Irish stage and screen actor from Northolt in England. He is known for playing the Garda Peadar Kearney in '' The Banshees of Inisherin''. Lydon played Patrick Murray, the counsellor on RTÉ One's '' The Clinic'', from 2 ... as Jack * Blanaid Irvine a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Black Beauty (1994 Film)
''Black Beauty'' is a 1994 family drama film, written and directed by Caroline Thompson in her directorial debut. The fifth cinematic adaptation of Anna Sewell's 1877 novel of the same name, the film stars Andrew Knott, who, the year prior, had played Dicken in ''The Secret Garden'' (another of Caroline Thompson’s film credits, as screenwriter), as well as Sean Bean, David Thewlis and Alan Cumming as Black Beauty. Produced and distributed by Warner Bros., under their Warner Bros. Family Entertainment label, the film’s story is told as an autobiography of the horse Black Beauty (as in the novel), with Cumming’s voiceover narration as Beauty leading viewers through the trials of the horse's life through his own eyes. Plot Black Beauty narrates his own story. He is born on a farm in the English countryside during the 19th century and remains by his mother's side until he is sent to Birtwick Park to serve Squire Gordon and his family. Lady Gordon, the squire's sick wife, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
The Playboys
''The Playboys'' is a 1992 Irish film directed by Gillies MacKinnon and starring Albert Finney, Aidan Quinn and Robin Wright. The plot follows an unwed young mother whose life is transformed with the arrival of a travelling troupe of actors to her Irish village. The script was written by Shane Connaughton, an Oscar nominee for ''My Left Foot''. The film was shot in his native village Redhills, in County Cavan, Ireland. Plot In a small Irish village in 1957, Tara Maguire, a young resolute woman, is the talk of the town because she is having a baby out of wedlock, and refuses to name the father. During Sunday mass she goes into labour giving birth to a baby boy. Sergeant Brendan Hegarty, the local police officer of the Garda Síochána, and Mick, a local landowner, vie for Tara's hand in marriage, but she refuses them both. Mick loses his cattle and facing financial ruin commits suicide. People in town blame his death on Tara's rejection. The local priest, Father Malone, at ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |