The Dublin actor and revue artist, John Molloy, who was living in the United States, has died in hospital, aged 70. He had lived in the Bay Area of San Francisco since his one-man show, Molloy, was a hit at the 1981 International Theatre Festival there.
He was regarded as one of the most versatile performers on the Dublin theatre scene during the 1960s and 1970s when he performed many popular one-man shows and played in several leading productions. He also appeared in many television productions, including Tolka Row.
His harrowing experiences with TB had an important influence on his life and his work, and his account of spending over six years in hospitals all over Dublin was deeply emotional.
He developed his acting style while training with Marcel Marceau in Paris, although during this period the disease returned.
One of his most celebrated roles was that of Matt Talbot, in Talbot's Box, a highly praised work by Thomas Kilroy, staged in the Peacock Theatre in Dublin, then in London, and later again in the Abbey Theatre. An appearance in Bernard Farrell's first play, I Do Not Like Thee Doctor Fell, also helped to establish his reputation. Another major role was that of Estragon in an Abbey Theatre production of Waiting for Godot.
He particularly liked comic and bawdy performers who sought to entertain audiences. He was an admirer of Pat Ingoldsby and often shared the stage with musician Ronnie Drew.
Born in South Anne Street, John Molloy was keenly interested in the rhythms of the city and was said to have a large repertoire of Dublin accents.
He was 14 when his father, who was a comedian, died. He started touring with a company of actors, and, apart from spending some time in the British navy, , acting became his chosen career.
His performances in the early RTE soap, Tolka Row, and in a BBC television production of The Playboy of the Western World, when he played Philly O'Cullen, won him plaudits from critics here and in Britain.
Described as having great precision of movement, Mr Molloy always returned to one-man shows and was perfectly comfortable holding the attention of the audience on his own.
He appeared on Broadway in 1963 with his own show, Double Dublin.
In 1972, he presented a musical called Demolition, which took a prescient look at issues such as housing and young people. His brief history of Dublin, From The Vikings to Bang Bang, opened in the Peacock in June, 1979.
A founder member of Irish Actors' Equity, he also wrote revues, one-man shows, musicals, and television plays. His fiction included short stories and a novel called Alive Alive-Oh.
In one of his last interviews with The Irish Times, before he went to the United States, he said "a comedian reflects the humour of the people, of his times, and the basis of humour is truth".
John Molloy: born 1929; died September, 1999