Fionnula Flanagan

Fionnghuala Manon Flanagan (born 10 December 1941) is an Irish actress who has worked extensively in theatre, film and television.

Early life

She was born Fionnghuala Manon Flanagan in Dublin, where she was raised, the daughter of Rosanna (née McGuirk) and Terence Niall Flanagan.^[1] She grew up speaking both Irish and English fluently. Although her parents were not native Irish speakers, they wanted Flanagan and her four siblings to learn their indigenous language. Flanagan was educated in Switzerland and England, and she trained at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, and travelled throughout Europe before settling in Los Angeles in 1968.

Career

Flanagan came to prominence in Ireland in 1965 as a result of her role as Máire in the Telefís Éireann production of the Irish Language play, An Triail. For her "outstanding performance" in the part, she won a Jacob's Award at the annual presentation ceremony in Dublin.^[2] With her portrayal of "Gerty McDowell" in the 1967 film version of Ulysses, Flanagan established herself as one of the foremost interpreters of James Joyce. She made her 1968 Broadway debut in Brian Friel's Lovers, then appeared in The Incomparable Max (1971) and such Joycean theatrical projects as Ulysses in Nighttown (as "Molly Bloom") and James Joyce's Women (1977). The last-named project earned her Critic's Circle awards in Los Angeles and San Francisco; it was subsequently filmed in 1988, with Flanagan repeating her portrayal of "Harriet Shaw Weaver". A familiar presence in American television, Flanagan has appeared in several made-for-TV movies, among them The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975) starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Mary White (1977), The Ewok Adventure (1984) and A Winner Never Quits (1986). She won an Emmy for her work as "Clothilde" in the 1976 network miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man.

Flanagan's weekly-series stints have included "Aunt Molly Culhane" in How the West Was Won (1977), which earned her a second Emmy Award nomination. She played "Lt. Guyla Cook" in Hard Copy (1987) and "Kathleen Meacham", wife of a police chief played by John Mahoney in H.E.L.P. (1990). Flanagan is also well known for her guest appearances in three of the Star Trek spin-offs. She guest starred in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode Dax, the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Inheritance as Data's "mother", and she also appeared as the Vulcan "Ambassador V'Lar" in Star Trek: Enterprise. She also recently guest starred in several episodes of "Lost" playing recurring character Eloise Hawking.

Flanagan has also appeared in numerous films, most notably The Others opposite Nicole Kidman, and Waking Ned. In the 1985 film James Joyce's Women she plays half a dozen women in Joyce's life, the most memorable being her recitation of Molly Bloom's soliloquy while fully nude and simulating masturbation. She has also done television series and stage productions - most recently in the Emmy-nominated miniseries, Revelations, starring Bill Pullman and Natascha McElhone, and in Transamerica starring Felicity Huffman. In 2006, Flanagan began a continuing major role in the eleven-episode Showtime drama Brotherhood. She plays "Rose Caffee", the mother of fictional Rhode Island State Representative Tommy Caffee and gangster Michael Caffee. Brotherhood has been picked up for a second season of 10 episodes to air in the summer of 2007, and Flanagan is slated to reprise her role in the drama. She currently resides in Hollywood Hills, California.

Personal life and politics

Flanagan appeared with Helen Mirren in Some Mother's Son, written and directed by Terry George, as the militantly supportive mother of a Provisional Irish Republican Army hunger striker in 1981. Subsequently, she spoke at a memorial hosted by Sinn Féin at the Citywest Building in Dublin for Irish republicans and their kin who were killed during the latest installment of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Flanagan and her husband (since 1972), Dr. Garrett O'Connor, also an Irish nationalist, are known to give lavish parties at her Hollywood Hills home for people in the Irish community.

In July 2009, Flanagan joined Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams for a number of lectures supporting Irish Unity across the USA.

Filmography

• The Irishman (2010) - TBA
• A Christmas Carol (2009) - Mrs. Dilber
• The Invention of Lying (2009) - Martha
• Yes Man (2008) - Tillie
• Slipstream (2007) - Bette Lustig
• Brotherhood (2006) - Rose Caffee
• Four Brothers (2005) - Evelyn Mercer
• Transamerica (2005) - Elizabeth Schupak
• Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002) - Aimee Malissa "Teensy" Whitman
• The Others (2001) - Mrs. Bertha Mills
• Waking Ned (1998) - Annie O'Shea
• Some Mother's Son (1996) - Annie Higgins
• Youngblood (1986) - Miss McGill
• The Ewok Adventure (1984) - Catarine Towani
• Mary White (1977) - Sallie White
• In the Region of Ice (1976) - The Sister

TV series

• Paddywhackery (2007) as Peig Sayers
• Lost (2007, 2009) as Eloise Hawking
• Nip/Tuck (2004) as Sr. Rita Claire
• Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994) as Juliana O'Donnell (Data's android mother) and many other characters.
• Gunsmoke "The Drummer" (1972) as Sarah Morgan (credited as Fionnuala Flanagan)

References

External links

• Fionnula Flanagan at the Internet Movie Database
• Fionnula Flanagan at the Internet Broadway Database