fiction.wikisort.org - Actor

Joseph Tomelty (5 March 1911 – 7 June 1995)[1] was an Irish actor, playwright, novelist, short-story writer and theatre manager. He worked in film, television, radio and on the stage.[2] starring in Sam Thompson's 1960 play Over the Bridge.

Joseph Tomelty
Born	(1911-03-05)5 March 1911 Portaferry, County Down, Ireland
Died	7 June 1995(1995-06-07) (aged 84) Belfast, Northern Ireland
Occupation	Actor, playwright
Years active	1947–1964
Spouse	Lena Milligan ​ ​ (m. 1942)​
Children	2, including Frances Tomelty
Family	Joe Sumner (grandson)

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".[1] Tomelty's exposure to music at a young age influenced his work as a playwright with several of his stage works were named after songs, including The Singing Bird (1948), Down the Heather Glen (1953) and The Drunken Sailor (1954).[1] His brother, Peter Tomelty, was a tenor and recording artist. He married Lena Milligan in 1942.[3] 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.[2]

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

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.

References

External links

• Joseph Tomelty at IMDb
• Joseph Tomelty at AllMovie
• Portaferry - Joseph Tomelty Resource Page

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