TP McKenna, the versatile Irish actor who died on Sunday aged 81, brought an urbane air of authority to his many stage, film and television characters, often playing lawyers, judges, detectives, priests and bishops.
He made frequent television appearances throughout the 1960s and 1970s in many popular series including Doctor Who, Crown Court and The Avengers; his film roles included that of the war correspondent WH Russell in Tony Richardson's The Charge Of The Light Brigade (1968), starring John Gielgud and Trevor Howard, and the magistrate in Sam Peckinpah's controversial Straw Dogs (1971), starring Dustin Hoffman.
TP McKenna
McKenna's other memorable television roles included portrayals of Nazis; he was Colonel Dorf, an SS commander, in the television miniseries Holocaust (1978), and Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler, opposite Gregory Peck and John Gielgud, in The Scarlet and the Black (1984). In 1985 he played Harold Skimpole in Arthur Hopcraft's adaptation of Dickens's Bleak House.
Thomas Patrick McKenna was born on September 7 1929 at the village of Mullagh, Co Cavan, the son of an auctioneer. He was named after his grandfather, a former chairman of Cavan county council and a prominent public figure.
In 1942 Tom (always known, even to his family, as TP) was sent to board at St Patrick's College, Cavan, where he enjoyed appearing in productions of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas.
One of his teachers, Fr Vincent Kennedy, taught him music and how to read a score, but at 15 TP saw a performance by the great Shakespearean actor Anew McMaster and determined one day to go on the stage.
On leaving school in 1948 he passed the examination for the Ulster Bank and was posted to the branch at Granard, Co Longford. In 1950 he was transferred to Dublin, where he joined the Shakespeare Society and the Rathmines and Rathgar Musical Society, which staged ambitious Gilbert and Sullivan productions at the Gaiety Theatre.
His amateur dramatics career was cut short in 1953 when the bank threatened him with a transfer to the sleepy town of Killeshandra in his native Cavan, with "one weekly bus in, one weekly bus out, plus a creamery and a convent. I couldn't face that and resigned".
A stage career finally beckoned: one of his first professional acting engagements was at a Shakespeare festival at the Gaiety, for which he was booked by McMaster.
During the 1950s McKenna's formative years as a stage actor were spent at Ireland's national theatre, the Abbey. In 1960 he got his first film break as the anarchist Lapidos in The Siege of Sidney Street, starring Donald Sinden.
In 1963 he moved to London, and appeared to critical acclaim in Stephen D (St Martin's). In the same year McKenna made his television debut, co-starring with his friend Donal Donnelly in the BBC Sunday play The Fly Sham.
That November he co-starred with Nicol Williamson in a revival of JP Donleavy's play The Ginger Man (Royal Court), and in 1964 returned to television with a part in the popular series The Avengers.
On the stage, McKenna appeared as Cassius in Julius Caesar (Royal Court), and in 1965 replaced Kenneth Haigh in Shaw's Too True To Be Good (Garrick).
It was, noted WA Darlington in The Daily Telegraph, a change for the better: "TP McKenna, as the burglar-preacher, has a better voice and clearer delivery than his predecessor... [his] oratory is a delight to the ear."
Throughout the 1970s McKenna made regular appearances in the lunchtime television series Crown Court as the barrister Patrick Canty. In 1972 he played a maverick Russian agent in three episodes of Callan, opposite Edward Woodward.
His television career continued to flourish in the 1980s and 1990s, with roles in Miss Marple, Lovejoy and Doctor Who.
McKenna fulfilled a long-held ambition to appear with John Thaw in Inspector Morse when he was cast in the final episode "The Remorseful Day" in 2000.
TP McKenna married, in 1955, May White, who died in 2006. Their four sons and one daughter survive him.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/tv-radio-obituaries/8326662/TP-McKenna.html
His amateur dramatics career was cut short in 1953 when the bank threatened him with a transfer to the sleepy town of Killeshandra in his native Cavan, with "one weekly bus in, one weekly bus out, plus a creamery and a convent. I couldn't face that and resigned".
A stage career finally beckoned: one of his first professional acting engagements was at a Shakespeare festival at the Gaiety, for which he was booked by McMaster.
During the 1950s McKenna's formative years as a stage actor were spent at Ireland's national theatre, the Abbey. In 1960 he got his first film break as the anarchist Lapidos in The Siege of Sidney Street, starring Donald Sinden.
In 1963 he moved to London, and appeared to critical acclaim in Stephen D (St Martin's). In the same year McKenna made his television debut, co-starring with his friend Donal Donnelly in the BBC Sunday play The Fly Sham.
That November he co-starred with Nicol Williamson in a revival of JP Donleavy's play The Ginger Man (Royal Court), and in 1964 returned to television with a part in the popular series The Avengers.
On the stage, McKenna appeared as Cassius in Julius Caesar (Royal Court), and in 1965 replaced Kenneth Haigh in Shaw's Too True To Be Good (Garrick).
It was, noted WA Darlington in The Daily Telegraph, a change for the better: "TP McKenna, as the burglar-preacher, has a better voice and clearer delivery than his predecessor... [his] oratory is a delight to the ear."
Throughout the 1970s McKenna made regular appearances in the lunchtime television series Crown Court as the barrister Patrick Canty. In 1972 he played a maverick Russian agent in three episodes of Callan, opposite Edward Woodward.
His television career continued to flourish in the 1980s and 1990s, with roles in Miss Marple, Lovejoy and Doctor Who.
McKenna fulfilled a long-held ambition to appear with John Thaw in Inspector Morse when he was cast in the final episode "The Remorseful Day" in 2000.
TP McKenna married, in 1955, May White, who died in 2006. Their four sons and one daughter survive him.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/tv-radio-obituaries/8326662/TP-McKenna.html
No comments:
Post a Comment