Micheál Mac Liammóir

Mac Liammóir, Micheál (1899-1978), actor, director, author. Born Alfred Willmore in Willesden, London (not Cork, as he claimed), he worked as a designer and illustrator for the Dublin Drama League, and changed his name on joining the Gaelic League. In 1928 he founded the Dublin Gate Theatre with his partner Hilton Edwards (1903-82). Mac Liammóir acted over 300 roles. An Taibhdhearc, in Galway, which he co-founded, opened in 1928 with his Diarmuid agus Gráinne, while an English translation was presented at the Gate later in the year. His thirteen plays include The Ford of the Hurdles (1929), Easter 1916 (1930), Where Stars Walk (1940), Dancing Shadows (1941), Ill Met by Moonlight (1946; filmed 1956), and Home for Christmas (1950). The Importance of Being Oscar (1963), a oneman entertainment on Oscar Wilde, gained him celebrity. His autobiographical accounts of theatrical life include All for Hecuba (1946), Put Money in Thy Purse (1950), and Aisteorí Faoi Dhá Sholas (1956; translated as Each Actor on his Ass, 1961). Theatre in Ireland (1950 and 1964) is chronicle and commentary. Enter a Goldfish (1977) is an autobiographical novel. His poems were collected as Bláth agus Taibhse (1965).