Joseph Tomelty facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Joseph Tomelty
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 5 March 1911 Portaferry, County Down, Ireland
|
| Died | 7 June 1995 (aged 84) Belfast, Northern Ireland
|
| Occupation | Actor, playwright |
| Years active | 1947–1964 |
| Spouse(s) |
Lena Milligan
(m. 1942) |
| Children | 2, including Frances Tomelty |
| Family | Joe Sumner (grandson) |
Joseph Tomelty (5 March 1911 – 7 June 1995) was an Irish actor, playwright, novelist, short-story writer and theatre manager. He worked in film, television, radio and on the stage, starring in Sam Thompson's 1960 play Over the Bridge.
Life and career
Born in Portaferry (Ireland at the time, now Northern Ireland) in 1911, he was the son of James Tomelty; a skilled fiddler who was nicknamed "Rollicking". Tomelty's exposure to music at a young age influenced his work as a playwright with several of his stage works being named after songs, including The Singing Bird (1948), Down the Heather Glen (1953) and The Drunken Sailor (1954). His brother, Peter Tomelty, was a tenor and recording artist. He married Lena Milligan in 1942. They had two daughters together; Frances Tomelty is an actress and the first wife of singer and musician Sting, while Roma Tomelty was also an actress.
Works
Plays
- Barnum Was Right (1939)
- Idolatry at Inishargie (1942)
- Poor Errand (1943)
- Right Again Barnum (1943)
- The End House (1944)
- All Souls' Night (1948)
- The Singing Bird (1948)
- Down the Heather Glen (1953)
- April in Assagh (1954)
- The Drunken Sailor (1954)
- Is the Priest at Home? (1954)
- A Year in Marlfield (1965)
Novels
- Red Is the Port Light (1948)
- The Apprentice (1953)
Radio
- Barnum Is Right (1938)
- Elopement (1939)
- The McCooeys (1948)
Complete filmography
- Odd Man Out (1947) - 'Gin' Jimmy, the cabbie
- Shark Island (1951) - Seán
- Treasure Hunt (1952) - Poacher
- The Sound Barrier (1952) - Will Sparks
- You're Only Young Twice (1952) - Dan McEntee
- The Gentle Gunman (1952) - Dr Brannigan
- The Gentle Maiden (1953 TV movie) - John Clarke
- The Oracle (1953) - Terry Roche
- Melba (1953) - Thomas Mitchell
- Meet Mr. Lucifer (1953) - Mr. Pedelty
- Hell Below Zero (1954) - Capt. McPhee
- Front Page Story (1954) - Dan
- Hobson's Choice (1954) - Jim Heeler
- Devil Girl from Mars (1954) - Prof. Arnold Hennessey
- Happy Ever After (1954) - Dooley
- The Young Lovers (1954) - Moffatt
- Simba (1955) - Dr. Hughes
- Bedevilled (1955) - Father Cunningham
- A Kid for Two Farthings (1955) - Vagrant
- John and Julie (1955) - Mr. Davidson
- Timeslip (1955) - Detective Inspector Cleary
- A Prize of Gold (1955) - Uncle Dan
- Moby Dick (1956) - Peter Coffin (voice dubbed by John Huston)
- A Night to Remember (1958) - Dr. William O'Loughlin
- Tread Softly Stranger (1958) - Joe Ryan
- The Captain's Table (1959) - Dalrymple
- Upstairs and Downstairs (1959) - Arthur Farringdon
- Next to No Wife (1959 TV movie) - Canon Fergus Brodie
- Life Is a Circus (1960) - Joe Winter
- Hell Is a City (1960) - Furnisher Steele
- The Day They Robbed the Bank of England (1960) - Cohoun
- Lancelot and Guinevere (1963) - Sir Kaye
- The Black Torment (1964) - Sir Giles Fordyke
The McCooeys
Tumelty's family-based radio sitcom The McCooeys was first broadcast on the BBC Home Service in Northern Ireland on 14 May 1949, becoming the region's most listened-to programme over the next six years. Centre Stage Theatre Company, co-founded by his daughter Roma and her husband Colin Carnegie, revived four of the episodes in a stage version, directed by Michael Quinn and performed in the refurbished Grand Opera House Studio Theatre in February 2022.
