FIGURES FROM the world of television, film and theatre gathered in Dublin yesterday to say a last goodbye to veteran actor Maureen Toal.
Toal (82), best known for her role as Teasy McDaid in the RTÉ television series Glenroe, died peacefully at her home in Sandycove last Friday.
Fr William Stuart, who officiated at the Church of the Assumption, Dalkey, told mourners, including Toal’s son Colm O’Shea, daughter-in-law, her three grandchildren, brothers, sisters and extended family, that the actor had “warmth, talent and skill”.
Among the friends and colleagues who attended the funeral were Glenroe actors Emmet Bergin, Geraldine Plunkett, Mary McEvoy and Eunice McMenamin.
Actor Frank Kelly and his wife Barbara Kelly also attended as did Christopher Fitz-Simon, the former artistic director of the Abbey Theatre, Laurie Morton, widow of the late David Kelly, theatre director Patrick Mason and actor Rosaleen Linehan and her husband, writer Fergus Linehan.
Actors Stephen Rea and Eamonn Morrissey were also there, as were Tony Tormey, Enda Oates and Eileen Colgan.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny was represented by his aide-de-camp Comdt Michael Treacy and President Michael D Higgins was represented by Col Brendan McAndrew.
Flowers were received from actor Milo O’Shea, Toal’s former husband, and his wife Kitty Sullivan.
Delivering the eulogy, playwright Frank McGuinness said Toal won universal acclaim in her “much-loved role” in Glenroe. She had an “illustrious career” in television and film, but she was “the great Abbey actress”.
He described her as “a force of nature” and said she gave “superlative performances” and “her comic skills were legion”.
She was “most generous” and when necessary, “most terrifying”. Her fellow actors knew the scale of her achievement.
“I revered her and I loved her from the word go,”McGuinness said.
Colm O’Shea said that his mother was “warm, generous and loving” and a woman who did everything “in her own style and in her own way”.
He thanked all those who had helped her in the last few years, including nurses, the meals-on-wheels service, home-help staff, the staff of St Michael’s Hospital and the emergency services who attended on the day she died. He said Toal was fiercely independent and valued her privacy and dignity.
“The manner of her leaving us was a comfort to me and to the family, that she went peacefully in her own home and on her own terms just as she would have wanted it,” he added.
The Mass ended with a rendition of The Parting Glass, sung by Nuala O’Connor accompanied by organist Edel Fludds.
As Toal’s coffin left the church to the sound of When You’re Smiling, there was applause from the congregation.
