Cyril Cusack

Cyril Cusack
Cusack as the fireman captain in Fahrenheit 451
Born	Cyril James Cusack 26 November 1910(1910-11-26) Durban, Natal, South Africa
Died	7 October 1993(1993-10-07) (aged 82) London, England, UK
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1918–1993
Spouse	Maureen Cusack (1945–1977) (her death) 5 children Mary Rose Cunningham (1979–1993) (his death) 1 child

Cyril James Cusack^[1] (26 November 1910 – 7 October 1993) was an Irish actor, who appeared in more than 90 films.^[2]

Early life

Cusack was born in Durban, Natal, South Africa, the son of Alice Violet (née Cole), an actress, and James Walter Cusack, a sergeant in the Natal mounted police.^[1] His parents separated when he was young and his mother took him to England, and then to Ireland. Cusack's mother and her partner, Breifne O'Rorke, joined the O'Brien and Ireland Players. Cyril made his first stage performance at the age of seven. Cusack was educated in Newbridge College, Newbridge, County Kildare and University College Dublin. He left without a degree and joined the Abbey Theatre in 1932. Between then and 1945, he performed in over 60 productions, particularly excelling in the plays of Seán O'Casey. In 1947, Cusack formed his own company and staged productions in Dublin, Paris and New York.

Career

In 1963, Cusack joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in London, England and appeared there for several seasons. By this stage he had established a successful career in films. Also in 1963, Cusack won a Jacob's Award for his performance in the Telefís Éireann production of Triptych.^[3] He received honorary degrees in 1977 and 1980 from the NUI and the University of Dublin respectively.

Cusack's last stage performance was in Chekhov's Three Sisters, in which three of his daughters played the sisters. His four daughters, Sinéad (born 1948), Sorcha (born 1949), Niamh (born 1959 and Catherine (born 1968) are actresses. His sons, Paul Cusack and Pádraig Cusack (born 1962), work as a producer with Radio Telefís Éireann and as an associate producer at the National Theatre, London, respectively.

Personal life

Cusack was twice married:

• The actress Maureen Kiely (1920–18 December 1977) on 5 April 1945 with whom he had three daughters Sinéad, Sorcha and Niamh and two sons Paul and Padraig.
• Mary Rose Cunningham (1979–1993); one daughter (Catherine)

Cusack in his later life became a campaigner for conservative causes in Ireland, notably in his opposition to abortion, where he became a frequent letter-writer into the main Liberal Irish newspaper, The Irish Times. His conservative credentials came under scrutiny following his death and the revelation that he had not been faithful in his first marriage, with a long-term mistress, Mary Rose Cunningham, who bore him a daughter, Catherine. Cusack married Cunningham following his first wife's death.

Regarding his religious faith, Cusack commented "Religion promotes the divine discontent within oneself, so that one tries to make oneself a better person and draw oneself closer to God."^[4]

Cusack was a longtime friend of Irish attorney general, Chief Justice and President of Ireland Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, whom he got to know in University College Dublin in the early 1930s.^[5]

In October 1993, Cusack died in Hounslow,^[6] Greater London, from motor neurone disease, one month before what would have been his 83rd birthday.

Selected filmography

Film

• Mick Brian's son in Knocknagow (1918)
• Servants All (1938)
• Inspector Hornleigh Goes to It (1941)
• Once a Crook (1941)
• Pat in Odd Man Out (1947) with James Mason
• James Carter in The Blue Lagoon (1949)
• Cpl. Taylor in The Small Back Room (1949)
• Edward Marston in Gone to Earth (1950)
• Chauvelin in The Elusive Pimpernel (1950)
• Garcia in The Spanish Gardener (1956)
• Captain Sandy Rendel in Ill Met by Moonlight (1957)
• Sam Bishop in Miracle in Soho (1957)
• Inspector Dillon in The Rising of the Moon (1957)
• Jimmy Hannafin in A Terrible Beauty (1960)
• Dr. Grogan in Waltz of the Toreadors (1962)
• Control in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)
• Fireman captain in Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
• Grumio in The Taming of the Shrew (1967)
• Chief Insp. Hubbard in Dial M for Murder (1967)
• Galileo in the eponymous feature by Italian director Liliana Cavani (1968)
• Frederick Katzmann in Sacco e Vanzetti (1971)
• Glaucus in Harold and Maude (1971)
• An old man in All The Way, Boys (1973)
• The gunsmith Gozzi in The Day of the Jackal (1973)
• Father Manus in Catholics (1973)
• uncredited as Major O'Neill in Juggernaut (1974)
• Cardinal Danaher in True Confessions (1981)
• Mr. Charrington, shopkeeper and covert Thought Police agent, in the film version of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)
• Lord Castlewelland in My Left Foot (1989) with Daniel Day-Lewis and Brenda Fricker
• Doc Spencer in Danny the Champion of the World (1989) with Jeremy Irons, Jimmy Nail and Robbie Coltrane
• Danty Duff in Far and Away (1992)

Television

• Mayor Barthelemy Piechut in Clochemerle (1972)
• Uncle Peter in Glenroe
• Father Giffley in Strumpet City
• Rabbi Yehuda in Jesus of Nazareth (1977), a NBC miniseries
• Mister Lorrimer in Death of an Expert Witness (1983), a production, for Britain's ITV network, of the novel of the same name by P.D.James

References

1. ^ ^{a b} http://www.filmreference.com/film/4/Cyril-Cusack.html
2. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0159258
3. ^ The Irish Times, "Presentation of television awards and citations," December 4, 1963.
4. ^ Undated source
5. ^ Garret FitzGerald, All in a Life (Gill and Macmillan, 1991)
6. ^ Deaths England and Wales 1984-2006

External links

• Cyril Cusack at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata
Name	Cusack, Cyril
Alternative names
Short description	Actor
Date of birth	1910-11-26
Place of birth	Durban, Natal, South Africa (born to Irish parents)
Date of death	1993-10-7
Place of death	London, England