Maurice Good (8 June 1932 – 10 May 2013) was an Irish actor with a career on stage and screen in his home country, the United Kingdom and Canada.

Early life

Graduating from Terenure College, it was here where Good played the part of Cassius in ''

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

'' that he decided to become an actor. Aged 18, he embarked on a stage career rather than go to university, continuing his training in London.

Career

During the 1950s, Good was a member of many theatrical establishments including

Anew McMaster Andrew "Anew" McMaster (24 December 1891 – 24 August 1962) was a British stage actor who during his nearly 45 year acting career toured the UK, Ireland, Australia and the United States. For almost 35 years he toured as actor-manager of his o ...

's Intimate Theatre Company (where he received his early training), the

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 ...

and

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 ...

. With the latter company, he toured with the Dublin Players on their 1957–58 tour of America. Venturing to London in 1960, Good appeared on stage with the

Old Vic Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...

Joan Littlewood Joan Maud Littlewood (6 October 1914 – 20 September 2002) was an English theatre director who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and is best known for her work in developing the Theatre Workshop. She has been called "The Mother of M ...

Theatre Workshop Theatre Workshop is a theatre group whose long-serving director was Joan Littlewood. Many actors of the 1950s and 1960s received their training and first exposure with the company, many of its productions were transferred to theatres in the West ...

and

Oxford Playhouse The Oxford Playhouse is a theatre designed by Edward Maufe and F. G. M. Chancellor. It is situated in Beaumont Street, Oxford, opposite the Ashmolean Museum. History The Playhouse was founded as ''The Red Barn'' at 12 Woodstock Road (Oxford), W ...

. In addition, he made appearances in numerous TV shows including ''

BBC Sunday-Night Play ''BBC Sunday-Night Play'' is the anthology drama series which replaced ''Sunday Night Theatre'' in 1960. It was broadcast on what was then BBC Television (now BBC One). The series often included versions of modern theatrical successes, but orig ...

'', ''

Armchair Theatre ''Armchair Theatre'' is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by ABC Weekend TV. Its successor Thames Television took over from mid-1968. The Ca ...

'', '' The Avengers'' (episodes: ''Hunt the Man Down'', '' Don't Look Behind You'' and ''Split!''), ''

No Hiding Place ''No Hiding Place'' is a British television series that was produced at Wembley Studios by Associated-Rediffusion for the ITV (TV network), ITV network between 16 September 1959 and 22 June 1967. It was the sequel to the series ''Murder Bag'' ...

'', ''

Espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...

'', ''

Z-Cars ''Z-Cars'' or ''Z Cars'' (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police and CID detectives in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by ...

'', '' Public Eye'', ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

'', ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' (the historical romp '' The Gunfighters''), ''

Emergency Ward 10 ''Emergency Ward 10'' is a British medical soap opera series shown on ITV between 1957 and 1967. It is considered to be one of British television's first major soap operas. Overview The series was made by the ITV contractor ATV and set in ...

'', '' The Saint'', ''

Dixon of Dock Green ''Dixon of Dock Green'' is a BBC police procedural television series about daily life at a fictional London police station, with the emphasis on petty crime, successfully controlled through common sense and human understanding. It ran from 1955 ...

'', ''

Man in a Suitcase ''Man in a Suitcase'' is a British television private eye thriller series produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment. It originally aired in the United Kingdom on ITV (TV network), ITV from 27 September 1967 to 17 April 1968. American Broadcast ...

'', ''

ITV Playhouse ''Playhouse'', also known as ''ITV Playhouse'', is a British television anthology series that ran from 1967 to 1983, which featured contributions from playwrights such as Dennis Potter, Rhys Adrian and Alan Sharp. The series began in black a ...

'', ''

Special Branch Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence in Policing in the United Kingdom, British, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, ...

'', '' Softly, Softly: Task Force'' and ''

New Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...

''. He also featured in films with roles in cult classics such as ''

The Skull The skull is the bony structure in the head of a craniate. Skull or Skulls may also refer to: Places * Skull Lake, British Columbia, Canada * Skull Creek (disambiguation) * 2015 TB145, a celestial object that passed Earth in 2015, known as the ...

'', ''

They Came from Beyond Space ''They Came from Beyond Space'' is a 1967 British Eastmancolor science fiction film directed by Freddie Francis and starring Robert Hutton, Jennifer Jayne, Zia Mohyeddin and Bernard Kay. It was produced by Max J. Rosenberg and Milton Subots ...

'', ''

Quatermass and the Pit ''Quatermass and the Pit'' is a British television science-fiction serial transmitted live by BBC Television in December 1958 and January 1959. It was the third and last of the BBC's ''Quatermass'' serials, although the chief character, Prof ...

'' and

Joan Crawford Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, 190? was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway theatre, Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion-picture cont ...

's last feature ''

Trog ''Trog'' is a 1970 British science fiction horror film directed by Freddie Francis and starring Joan Crawford, Michael Gough and Bernard Kay. The screenplay was by Peter Bryan, John Gilling and Aben Kandel. The film concerns the discovery ...

''. With his writer brother John, Good wrote a one-man stage play during 1964–65 about the life of

Michael Collins Michael Collins or Mike Collins most commonly refers to: * Michael Collins (Irish leader) (1890–1922), Irish revolutionary leader, soldier, and politician * Michael Collins (astronaut) (1930–2021), American astronaut, member of Apollo 11 and Ge ...

entitled ''Hang the Bright Colours''. However, it never came to fruition. (Their father Joe had known the revolutionary and politician, being members of the same Gaelic League Branch. Joe's journal chronicling the 1916

Easter Rising The Easter Rising (), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the aim of establishing an ind ...

and its aftermath was written in 1946 and edited by Maurice for publication in 1996 as ''Enchanted by Dreams: The Journal of a Revolutionary'' by Brandon Books then reprinted as ''Inside the GPO 1916: A First-hand Account'' by the O'Brien Press in 2015.) The brothers penned ''The Antonietta'', a modern version of the Deirdre myth, performed at the Gate Theatre but the production was a failure. Maurice did find success though with his one-man show ''John Synge Comes Next'' based on the writings of

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 ...

. First produced at the

Dublin Theatre Festival The Dublin Theatre Festival is Europe's oldest specialised theatre festival. It was founded by theatre impresario Brendan Smith in 1957 and has, with the exception of two years, produced a season of international and Irish theatre each autumn. ...

in 1969, it went on to be toured throughout Ireland followed by England, Canada, New York, and Beirut, eventually being published in book form in 1973. Realising that he wasn't getting many acting opportunities in Dublin or London, Good decided by 1974 to move to Canada (have proved popular there as a result of his Synge tour in 1971). Settling in Toronto, he performed in another monologue piece ''The Ham in Sam: Beckett Stage Direction'', based on the works of

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish writer of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Writing in both English and French, his literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal, and Tragicomedy, tra ...

and commissioned by

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

, presented at Manitoba, Calgary and Kingston. At

Citadel Theatre The Citadel Theatre is the major venue for theatre arts in the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, located in the city's downtown core on Churchill Square. It is the third largest regional theatre in Canada. History It began in a former Salvati ...

, the actor was directed by John Neville in 1976 productions of Beckett's '' Endgame'' and

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

's ''

The Master Builder ''The Master Builder'' () is a play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It was first published in December 1892 and is regarded as one of Ibsen's more significant and revealing works. Performance The play was published by Gyldendal AS in C ...

''. On screen, he appeared in ''

Performance A performance is an act or process of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Performance has evolved glo ...

'', '' The New Avengers'' (in "Forward Base", a Canada-based episode), ''

Night Heat ''Night Heat'' is a Canadian police crime drama series that aired on both CTV in Canada and CBS in the United States. Original episodes were broadcast from 1985 to 1989. ''Night Heat'' was the first Canadian original drama series that was sim ...

'' and '' Love & Larceny''. Spending a number of years working at

Stratford Festival The Stratford Festival is a repertory theatre organization that operates from April to October in the city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Founded by local journalist Tom Patterson in 1952, the festival was formerly known as the Stratford Shak ...

, Good was asked by director

Robin Phillips Robin Phillips OC (28 February 1940 – 25 July 2015) was an English actor and film director. Life He was born in Haslemere, Surrey in 1940 to Ellen Anne (née Barfoot) and James William Phillips. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic, where a ...

in 1979 to act as an understudy to

Peter Ustinov Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov (16 April 192128 March 2004) was a British actor, director and writer. An internationally known raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits for much of his career. Ustinov received #Awa ...

in a production of ''

King Lear ''The Tragedy of King Lear'', often shortened to ''King Lear'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is loosely based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his ...

''. During this time, Good kept a journal of the rehearsals, which was published as a book entitled ''Every Inch a Lear'' in 1982.

Later life

In 1988, Good visited

Sir Wilfred Grenfell College Grenfell Campus, formerly Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, is a campus of the Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN). It is located in the city of Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The campus has approximately 1,300 students enrol ...

in Newfoundland. Moving there the following year, he became a teacher in the theatre program, directing student plays as well as acting in them. Despite retiring in 1997, the actor continued to lecture until 2002, afterwards remaining in the city until his death.

Personal life

While performing in theatre during his early years, Good met actress Claudia "Twinkle" Forbes, the daughter of theatre impresario Dick Forbes (who died before they could meet). They married in 1954.

References

External links

*
Maurice Good
at Theatricalia
Maurice Good
at Playography Ireland {{DEFAULTSORT:Good, Maurice 1932 births 2013 deaths Male actors from Dublin (city) Irish male stage actors Irish male television actors Irish male film actors Irish expatriates in the United Kingdom Irish emigrants to Canada People educated at Terenure College