Life of Legion of Mary founder Frank Duff to be made into a film

Acclaimed music video director and author Gordon Lewis is to make a film about the life of Legion of Mary founder Frank Duff.

Mr Lewis was born in the Regina Coeli mother and baby home in Morning Star Avenue in central Dublin in February 1953. He lived there with his mother, Geraldine, until she emigrated to London when he was aged nine.

The home, which was run by the Legion of Mary, operated from 1930 to 1998. It was unique among such homes in being the only place up until the 1970s that supported unmarried mothers who wished to raise their child.

Between 1930 and 1998, a total of 5,631 mothers and 5,434 children were admitted.

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Mr Lewis built a successful career in the UK, working with artists including Elton John, David Bowie, Queen and The Pretenders. He is also the author of a bestselling book and film on his childhood, The Secret Child, which was published in 2015.

He wants the film – titled The Maverick: A Forgotten Irish Hero – to be made in Dublin with the Regina Coeli hostel as a backdrop but he has been unable to get any response from the De Montfort Trust, which owns the building.

He said he is still hopeful that he will be able to use the original hostel as a location. Failing that he will look at locations in Belfast and London.

He said Mr Duff was a “maverick” who took on Archbishop John Charles McQuaid and Dublin Corporation to keep the Regina Coeli hostel open over 50 years ago.

“I’m not religious, but it’s payback time for me. I knew Frank Duff. He was quirky and odd, but thousands of children like me went through that place,” he said.

“It was his concept and idea that a mother and child should not be separated. He did something really outrageous. He ended up chaining himself to the railings and went on hunger strike when the authorities tried to close down the hostel in the 1960s. On the back of that, the authorities backed off.

“He fought against the State, he fought against the establishment and he fought against the church and he did it with all these women volunteers. He did not get support from men.”

He said it will be a short film that will be shown at festivals around the world. "Small films can become big films. I have two projects in discussion with Netflix. Maybe we will end up doing something more once the film is made."

Mr Lewis said he had hoped to give the scoop on the film to the late journalist Paddy Murray, who sadly died last week.

"Paddy called Frank Duff the Bob Geldof of the 1960s," Mr Lewis recalled, agreeing with the assessment.

Writing last December in The Irish Times, Murray lamented at how the centenary of the founding of the Legion of Mary in 2021 had been "largely allowed to pass unmarked".