- Daragh O'Malley
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Daragh O'Malley Born May 25, 1954
Dublin, IrelandOccupation actor Daragh O'Malley (born 25 May 1954) is an Irish film, theatre and television actor, best known for his portrayal of the much loved and ever faithful but rather fearsome Patrick Harper in the legendary Sharpe TV series along side Sean Bean. O'Malley also appeared in a number of famous productions such as The Magnificent Seven, Texas and Cleopatra,
Raised in Limerick, the 6'3" O'Malley was educated by the Jesuit and Carmelite monks and went on to study drama at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art where one of his fellow students was Amy Irving and records show that Irving once played Antigone to O'Malley's Creon in a production of Antigone.
In the mid 90s, O'Malley was cast as Debra Winger's husband in a leading role in the ill fated feature Divine Rapture which starred Marlon Brando, Winger, O'Malley, John Hurt and Johnny Depp, though the project collapsed after four weeks filming when the Los Angeles production company Orion suddenly went bankrupt. Three time Oscar nominee Winger virtually retired from acting after Divine Rapture. O'Malley, who lived in Los Angeles for many years, remained a close friend of Brando's following the Divine Rapture debacle and the two were working on a film production of The Merchant of Venice - with Brando due to play Shylock - when the screen legend died.
O'Malley's production company produced the Irish version of The Rocky Horror Show in Dublin in the early 90s and the show won numerous of awards including a Best Production Jacobs Award 1991. Author Richard O'Brien described the Irish production as "without doubt,the sexiest version ever produced". The show had many cast members in common with The Commitments and the house was bought out one night by Tom Cruise as the wrap party venue for the cast and crew of the movie Far and Away which was filming in Ireland at the time.
O'Malley's father, Donogh O'Malley, was an Irish politician who served as an TD for Limerick East and as his country's Minister for Education, introducing a Free Secondary and Third Level education system in Ireland which is credited with the subsequent massive upsurge in the Irish economy.
Donogh O'Malley was once engaged to actor Richard Harris's sister, Audrey, but she died during the engagement at 21. Donough O'Malley himself died of a heart attack aged 47. Harris, also from Limerick, and Daragh were often spotted at Dingle Races together in August and drinking in various hostelries around Co.Kerry and in Scott's Pub in Kilkee,Co. Clare in Ireland and in The Coach and Horses and The Coal Hole in London's West End.
O Malley has had a keen interest in horse racing since he was a child - three successful horses that he himself owned were MUSTANG PRINCE which won twelve races - LONG HAIRED LOVER and RUNNING DEER, which he named after a character in the Richard Harris film A Man Called Horse. Harris had two racehorses which he named A TRAMP SHINING and CROMWELL.
O'Malley's mother, Hilda, a doctor from Dingle Co. Kerry, is the subject of Patrick Kavanagh's extraordinary love poem "On Raglan Road".
In Los Angeles O'Malley won a Drama-Logue Best Actor Award for his 1998 performance as "Sweeney" in Patrick Marber's Dealers Choice Mark Taper Forum
O'Malley's late aunt, Meave - his father's sister - was singer Dido's grandmother.
It is rumoured that O'Malley was approached by Fianna Fáil, once Ireland's leading political party,to run for the Irish parliament on several occasions in recent years.
O'Malley is Founder of The Sharpe's Children Foundation (www.sharpeschildren.com), a charity set up and designed to petition for universal primary education and take children out of the gutters of the developing world and educate them in Sharpe's Shelters, and a Director of Flood Street Films. (www.floodstreetfilms.com), which develops an array of film and television projects.
Daragh is married to Gabrielle (nee Leavy) since 1993.
Filmography
- Crossroads (1974–77) ATV
- Red Shift (1978) BBC
- The Long Good Friday (1980) Handmade
- Blue Money (1982)
- Tales of the Unexpected (1983)
- Cal (1984)
- The Last Place on Earth (1985) Central
- Truckers (1987) TV Series 8 Episodes
- Withnail and I (1987) Handmade
- Act of Betrayal (1988)
- A Day in Summer (1989)
- Connemara (1990)
- Shoot to Kill (1990)
- Sharpe's Rifles (1993)
- Sharpe's Eagle (1993)
- Sharpe's Honour (1994)
- Sharpe's Enemy (1994)
- Sharpe's Company (1994)
- Texas (1994) US Mini Series
- Sharpe's Sword (1995)
- Sharpe's Battle (1995)
- Sharpe's Gold (1995)
- Cutthroat Island (1995)
- Shaughnessy (1996)
- Sharpe's Mission (1996)
- Sharpe's Siege (1996)
- Sharpe's Regiment (1996)
- Sharpe's Justice (1997)
- Sharpe's Revenge (1997)
- Sharpe's Waterloo (1997)
- Sharpe: The Legend (1997)
- Grim Fandango (1998)
- The Magnificent Seven (1998) CBS TV Series
- Cleopatra (1999) Hallmark Mini Series
- Vendetta (1999) HBO Feature
- Longitude (2000) TV Series
- McCready and Daughter(2000)
- Rebel Heart (2001) TV Series
- On Home Ground (2001) 16 One Hour Episode
- The Bombmaker (2001) Sky Movies
- Puckoon (2002) Feature
- Doctors (2003) One Episode.
- In Deep (2003) TV Series
- Silent Witness (2004) Two Episodes
- Wire in the Blood (2005) Two Episodes
- Sharpe's Challenge(2006) ITV 2 x 90min Films.
- Waking The Dead (2007) Two Episodes
- Richard The Lionheart (2008) BBC Drama
- Sharpe's Peril (2008) ITV 2 x 90min Films
- The Royal (2008) ITV Series
- Camelot (2011) Four Episodes
External links
Categories:- Irish film actors
- Irish television actors
- 1954 births
- Living people
- People from County Dublin
- Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
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