THOMAS PATRICK (TP) McKENNA:THOMAS PATRICK (TP) McKenna, who has died aged 81, was an actor best known for his stage, film and television work spanning more than half-a-century in Ireland and Britain.
He appeared in popular television dramas such as The Avengers, Dangerman, The Sweeney, Doctor Whoand Minder.Film credits include Ulysses(1967), Straw Dogs(1971) and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man(1977). He continued to work as a stage actor throughout his career, and also to direct.
Born in Mullagh, Co Cavan in 1929, he was the eldest of 12 children – two of whom died as infants – of Ralph McKenna, an auctioneer, and his wife May. Educated locally, he was later sent to St Patrick’s College, Cavan, as a boarder.
He did not shine academically, but enjoyed playing Gaelic football and taking part in productions of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. His first stage appearance, as Elsie Maynard, female lead in The Yeoman of the Guard,convinced him acting was the life for him.
One of his teachers, Fr Vincent Kennedy, introduced him to Anew McMaster, whose company brought Shakespeare to the four corners of Ireland.
McMaster said: “Dear boy, never become an actor until you’re absolutely sure there is nothing else in the world that you can do.”
On completing his education he joined the Ulster Bank and in 1948 was posted to Granard, Co Longford.
Transferred to Trim, Co Meath, he was active in the local musical society. In 1950 he was again transferred, this time to the Camden Street branch in Dublin.
Living in Leinster Road, he joined the Rathmines and Rathgar Musical Society, and renewed his acquaintance with Gilbert and Sullivan. He also took part in Dublin Shakespeare Society productions, and gained further experience at the Pike and Gate theatres.
Having taken part in some Abbey productions, he quit banking to become a member of the company in 1954. Over the next eight years he played a total of 70 roles, acting in a variety of plays including The Plough and the Stars(1955), Joseph Tomelty's Is the Priest at Home?(1956), and The Risen People(1958) by James Plunkett.
A role he greatly enjoyed was that of James Tyrone jnr in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Nightin 1962.
He left the Abbey after joining the cast of Stephen D, which was playing at St Martin’s theatre, London. With a script by Hugh Leonard and directed by Jim Fitz-gerald, the play was an enormous success and ran for a year.
During the run, John McGrath, one of the creators of Z Cars, offered McKenna a part in Tom Murphy's The Fly Sham. He was delighted to find himself co-starring with his friend Donal Donnelly in his first television play. More television work followed.
Back on stage in 1963 he appeared at the Royal Court in JP Donleavy’s The Ginger Man. He played Cassius in Lindsay Anderson’s production of Julius Caesar on the same stage in 1964.
He returned to Dublin in 1966 to play Patrick Pearse opposite Niall Tóibín as James Connolly in Eugene McCabe’s Pull Down a Horseman.
During the 1960s and 1970s he spent two seasons at the Royal Court, followed by seasons at the Nottingham Playhouse and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
At Nottingham he directed his first play, JM Synge's The Playboy of the Western World.At this time he also enjoyed a long run in David Storey's play The Contractor.
During the filming of Straw Dogshe suffered a serious shoulder injury. At a party organised by director Sam Peckinpah, two actors fell off a table, crushing him. There were fears he would have to have his right arm amputated. It was saved, but he was out of work for four months.
After his recovery, he returned to the stage in James Joyce's Exiles,directed by Harold Pinter.
Having divided his time between Dublin and London for over a decade, in 1972 he sold his home in Sandymount and his family joined him in Finchley. From a Cumann na nGaedheal background, he chose to support Labour in both Ireland and Britain. He saw little to admire in his local MP, “that demented lunatic” Margaret Thatcher.
In 1973 he directed Tom Kilroy's The Death and Resurrection of Mr Rocheat the Abbey. He took charge of morning rehearsals while appearing with Donal Donnelly in an extended run of Sleuthat the Olympia in the evenings.
Although television was his least favourite medium, the work kept coming in. He had roles in RTÉ's The Year of the French(1982), the BBC's Bleak House(1985) and Stendhal's The Scarlet and the Black (1993), also for the BBC. He returned to RTÉ in 2004 for a stint in Fair City.
He made stage appearances in Dublin throughout the 1980s and 1990s, in such plays as Stewart Parker’s Nightshade at the Peacock and Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya at the Gate. He also appeared in Brian Friel’s Aristocrats at London’s Mermaid theatre in 2005.
His last full-length feature film was The Libertine (2004) with Johnny Depp, while his final film role was in the low-budget short Death's Door(2009).
Reflecting on his career in 1983, he said: “I can look at the mirror and say, ‘Well, you had a go!’ While it hasn’t worked out to my entire satisfaction, at least I didn’t sit on my arse or take the long secure trek.”
Predeceased by his wife May (née White), he is survived by his sons Ralph, Killian, Breffni and Stephen, and daughter Sally.
Thomas Patrick (TP) McKenna: born September 7th, 1929; died February 13th, 2011