Maureen Cusack (24 November 1920 – 18 December 1977) was an Irish actress. She was born in 1920 in

Glenties Glenties () is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. It is situated where two glens meet, north-west of the Bluestack Mountains, near the confluence of two rivers. Glenties is the largest centre of population in the parish of Iniskeel. Glenties ha ...

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

, Ireland as Mary Margaret Kiely. She was married to Irish actor Cyril Cusack and they had five children Sinéad, Sorcha, Niamh, Paul and Pádraig. Sinéad, Sorcha and Niamh are all actresses and

Pádraig Pádraig or Pádraic ( , ), also Pádhraig or Pádhraic ( , ), are Irish male given names deriving from the Latin ''Patricius'', meaning "of the Patrician (ancient Rome), patrician class", introduced via the name of Saint Patrick. The name is oft ...

is a theatre producer. Her grandsons are actors

Max Irons Maximilian Paul Diarmuid Irons (born 17 October 1985) is an English and Irish actor. He is known for his roles in films such as ''Red Riding Hood (2011 film), Red Riding Hood'' (2011), ''The White Queen (miniseries), The White Queen'' (2013), '' ...

and

Calam Lynch Calam Finbar Lynch (born 7 November 1994) is a British actor. His films include the Disney adaptation of '' Black Beauty'' (2020) and Terence Davies' ''Benediction'' (2021). On television, he appeared in the BBC One drama '' Mrs Wilson'' (2018) ...

, and the politician Richard Boyd Barrett. Her granddaughters are actresses Beth Cooke and Megan Cusack. She was a leading actress at

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Gate Theatre The Gate Theatre is a theatre on Cavendish Row in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1928. History Beginnings The Gate Theatre was founded in 1928 by Hilton Edwards and Micheál MacLiammóir with Daisy Bannard Cogley and Gearóid Ó Lochla ...

with transfers to London's West End in the late 1940s, she also was part of the

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 p ...

Dublin in 1948 as a visiting company member with The Lyric Theatre Company where she appeared in ''The Viscount of Blarney'' in1948. In 1946 she appeared in a Radio Éireann production of a play by Irish playwright Teresa Deevy called ''

Katie Roche ''Katie Roche'' is a 1936 expressionist play by Irish playwright Teresa Deevy. It has been staged by the Abbey Theatre eleven times with the most recent revival being in 2017. Described as a "reputed favourite with amateur dramatic societi ...

'' and again in 1947 in '' Wife to James Whelan'', these were both produced by Gabriel Fallon. She is best known for her roles in ''

Odd Man Out ''Odd Man Out'' is a 1947 British film noir directed by Carol Reed, and starring James Mason, Robert Newton, Cyril Cusack, and Kathleen Ryan. Set in Belfast, Northern Ireland, it follows a wounded Nationalist leader who attempts to evade pol ...

'' (1947), '' The Rising of the Moon'' (1957), '' Von Richthofen and Brown'' (1971), also ''The Loves of Cass Maguire'' (1975), and ''

Playboy of the Western World ''The Playboy of the Western World'' is a three-act play written by Irish playwright John Millington Synge, first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on 26 January 1907. The work is considered a centerpiece of the Irish Literary Revival move ...

'' (1946). She died on 18 December 1977, in Dublin and is buried in Saint Fintan's Cemetery, Sutton, County Dublin, Ireland.

Filmography

Theatrical work

*''The Barrel Organ'' (1942) – Robert Collis *''Assembly at Druim Ceat'' (1943) – Roibeárd Ó Faracháin *''The Kiss'' (1944) – Austin Clarke *''The Viscount of Blarney'' (1944) – Austin Clarke *''

'' (1946) – Teresa Deevy *''The Second Kiss'' (1946) - Austin Clarke *''Ill Met by Moonlight'' (1946) - Micheál MacLiammóir, followed by transfer to London's West End (1947) *'' Wife to James Whelan'' (1947) – Teresa Deevy *''Home for Christmas'' (1950) - Micheál MacLiammóir *''

Arms and the Man ''Arms and the Man'' is a comedy by George Bernard Shaw, whose title comes from the opening words of Virgil's ''Aeneid'', in Latin: ''Arma virumque cano'' ("Of arms and the man I sing"). The play was first produced on 21 April 1894 at the Av ...

'' (1951) -

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

*''A Slipper for the Moon'' (1954) - Micheál MacLiammóir *'' The Playboy of the Western World'' (1955) -

John Millington Synge Edmund John Millington Synge (; 16 April 1871 – 24 March 1909), popularly known as J. M. Synge, was an Irish playwright, poet, writer, essayist, and collector of folklores. As an important driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival, Ir ...

*''The Bishop's Bonfire'' (1955) - Seán O'Casey * '' Androcles and the Lion'' (1956) -

*'' The Rising of the Moon'' (1956) -

Lady Gregory Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory (; 15 March 1852 – 22 May 1932) was an Anglo-Irish dramatist, folklorist and theatre manager. With William Butler Yeats and Edward Martyn, she co-founded the Irish Literary Theatre and the Abbey Theatre, and wrot ...

*''Roger Casement'' (1958) - Roger McHugh *''The Temptation of Mr O'' (1961) -

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...

adapted for the stage by Cyril Cusack

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cusack, Maureen 1920 births 1977 deaths 20th-century Irish actresses Actresses from County Donegal Irish expatriates in the United Kingdom Irish film actresses Irish stage actresses People from Glenties Cusack family (Ireland)