Rosaleen Philomena Linehan (; born 1 June 1937) is an Irish stage, screen, and television actress.

Career

Linehan was born in

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 ...

. She attended

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

and graduated in 1957 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Politics. She joined UCD Dramsoc on her first day of college and started acting professionally within two years of leaving the university. She has appeared in many comedy revues written by her husband, Fergus. She has appeared on stage in, among other plays, '' Blithe Spirit'', ''

The House of Bernarda Alba ''The House of Bernarda Alba'' () is a play (theatre), play by the Spain, Spanish dramatist Federico García Lorca. Commentators have often grouped it with ''Blood Wedding (play), Blood Wedding'' and ''Yerma'' as the Rural Trilogy. García Lorc ...

,'' and ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...

.'' She was nominated for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role as Kate in

Brian Friel Brian Patrick Friel (c. 9 January 1929 – 2 October 2015) was an Irish dramatist, short story writer and founder of the Field Day Theatre Company. He had been considered one of the greatest living English-language dramatists. (subscription requ ...

's ''

Dancing at Lughnasa ''Dancing at Lughnasa'' is a 1990 play by dramatist Brian Friel set in County Donegal, Ireland in August 1936 in the fictional town of Ballybeg. It is a memory play told from the point of view of the adult Michael Evans, the narrator. He re ...

'' at the 1992 Tony Awards. She starred as Winnie in

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 ...

's ''

Happy Days ''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marsha ...

'' on stage and on screen as part of the '' Beckett on Film'' project, having already played the role in a 1996 production at 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 ...

opposite Barry McGovern. In 1972, Linehan won a Jacob's Award for her

RTÉ Radio RTÉ Radio is a division and service of Irish public broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), which broadcasts four analogue channels and five digital channels across Ireland. Founded in January 1926 as 2RN, was the first broadcaster in ...

comedy series '' Get an Earful of This''. She was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Irish Theatre Awards in 2008. In film, she has appeared as Nurse Callan in '' Ulysses'', May Dedalus in ''

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'' is the second book and first novel of Irish writer James Joyce, published in 1916. A ''Künstlerroman'' written in a modernist style, it traces the religious and intellectual awakening of young Ste ...

'' (1977), Aunt Fitzeustace in '' Fools of Fortune'', Mrs. Canning in '' The Butcher Boy'', Peggy Owens in '' About Adam'', Mrs Matson in '' The Hi-Lo Country,'' and Millie O'Dowd in '' The Matchmaker''. In television, she was a voice artist on the

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

children's TV series '' Inis Cúil'' in 2005 and appeared in Hugh Leonard's BBC sitcom '' Me Mammy''. More recently, she played Deirdre O'Kane's mother in ''Bitter Sweet''. In 2014, she was awarded the UCD Alumni Award for Arts.

Family

Linehan was married to Fergus Linehan, who died in 2016 with whom she had four children and eight grandchildren. Linehan lives in Dublin. Her father,

Daniel McMenamin Daniel McMenamin (1 March 1882 – 13 February 1964) was an Irish politician. A barrister by profession, McMenamin first stood for election at the 1918 general election as an Irish Parliamentary Party candidate for the Donegal West constituenc ...

, was a

Teachta Dála A Teachta Dála ( ; ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish language, Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas, the parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The official Engli ...

for Donegal from 1927 to 1961.

Filmography

* Snakes and Ladders (1996)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Linehan, Rosaleen 1937 births Living people Irish film actresses Irish stage actresses Jacob's Award winners Actresses from Dublin (city) Irish radio presenters Irish women radio presenters Radio personalities from the Republic of Ireland Broadcasters from County Dublin