Denis Martin (1920 – October 1988) was a Northern Irish singer, actor and theatre producer active in the 1940s to 1980s. Martin won the All-Ireland tenor competition at

Feis Ceoil Feis Ceoil ( ; "Festival of Music") is an Irish music organisation which holds an annual competitive festival of classical music. It was first organised in Dublin in 1897 by Dr. Annie Patterson and Edward Martyn for the purpose of stimulating mus ...

in 1944, He then moved to England where he performed as a singer in musical shows and in radio and TV broadcasts. Soon after arriving in England Denis joined the

Players' Theatre The Players' Theatre was a London theatre which opened at 43 King Street, Covent Garden, on 18 October 1936. The club originally mounted period-style musical comedies, introducing Victorian-style music hall in December 1937. The threat of Worl ...

, a permanent music-hall company in London. In 1949 he played the juvenile lead in King's Rhapsody with

Ivor Novello Ivor Novello (born David Ivor Davies; 15 January 1893 – 6 March 1951) was a Welsh actor, dramatist, singer and composer who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. He was born into a musical ...

. He went on to become the Director of Production at the Players' Theatre, developing and adapting plays for musical theatre. Denis's brother Brendan joined him in London as a professional singer at the

Windmill Theatre The Windmill Theatre in Great Windmill Street, London, was a variety and revue theatre best known for its nude ''tableaux vivants'', which began in 1932 and lasted until its reversion to a cinema in 1964. Many prominent British comedians of t ...

Discography

Albums

* ''Songs of the Emerald Isle'' (1969)

Singles

* Galway Bay / Terence's Farewell (1948) * Eileen Oge / Sing Sweet Nightingale (1948) * Come Back Paddy Reilly / The Last Mile Home (1949)

Stage and screen

Film and television roles

* These Wonderful Shows * Music for You * Tonight's the Night (1954) * Here and Now (TV) (1955) * The Bamboo Prison (film) (1954) * Happy Ever After (1954) * The Good Old Days (TV) (1969 - 1971)

Radio

* ''Yuletide in the Music-Hall A Christmas Box at the Players' Theatre'';

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

, 25 December 1969

Theatre roles

* '' The Duenna'' * ''

Pacific 1860 ''Pacific 1860'' is a musical written by Noël Coward. The story is set in a fictional Pacific British colony during the reign of Queen Victoria. It involves a romantic and sentimental story about a visiting prima donna and her conflict betwee ...

'' (1946) * ''Tuppence Coloured'' (1947) * ''Oranges and Lemons'' (1947) * '' King's Rhapsody'' (1949) * ''The Punch Revue'' (1955)

As producer

* ''A Little of What you Fancy'' (1968)

References

External links

* *
Denis Martin at Theatricalia.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Denis 20th-century male singers from Northern Ireland 1920 births 1988 deaths Musicians from Belfast 20th-century male actors from Northern Ireland Male actors from Belfast