Ten Biggest and Best Irish Actors - Part II

This is the second part of my list of Ten Best and Biggest Irish Actors, so here are the final five… or so... well who's counting?

Peter O’Toole
Peter O’Toole, may or may not have been born in Ireland, even he doesn’t know for sure. He has two separate birth certificates, which is down to his wayward father’s dodgy dealings and constant travelling. During his very colourful youth spent between Ireland and England, contending with the hardships of World War II, and with stints abroad as an enlisted man, he always had a penchant for writing and poetry. His first acting experience came in the form of a Christmas Pantomime of all things. This was enough to give him the bug to pursue acting both on stage and screen. He made his dramatic Hollywood breakthrough as the unforgettable lead in Lawrence of Arabia in 1962, which shot him straight to the top of the heap. It also earned him his first Academy Award nomination. He has since been nominated for eight Academy Awards but, besides his 2003 Honorary Award, has been pipped at the post on each occasion…so far that is … in 2011 at the grand age of Seventy-nine he continues to walk the boards as admirably as ever.

Biggest: Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

But my favourite is... Caligula (1979)
This historical drama was essentially an X-Rated disastrous mess! There are about fifty different cuts of it, which thanks to the involvement of Penthouse Magazine, range from hardcore porn to soft-core porn and varying degrees in between. But you can be sure whichever version you watch there is going to be nudity and scenes of an imaginative sexual nature. So you’re either loving it already or, like me, you like a bit more substance to a film. I’m not sure which version I saw, but it must have been one of the more edited edits, as I didn’t feel too much assaulted by gratuitous sex scenes (no more than lots of other films). In between it all, there is the wonderful story of the life of the callous and cruel Roman Emperor Caligula. Being a former student of the Classics and admirer of historical fiction, this film was for me compulsory viewing. Plus it offers some fabulous performances from great actors of our time – Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, John Gielgud and of course Peter O’Toole as the decrepit and syphilitic Emperor Tiberius. He plays the part like a thoroughly repulsive but somehow still majestic lunatic, with Shakespearean-style wisdom in madness and a flourish. It’s completely worth suffering the poorly thrown together sets and debauchery for the gems within. My favourite quote is Tiberius (O’Toole) to his young nephew Caligula (McDowell), having just warned him that he is likely to be knocked off by anybody, even a close family member, at any time, due to mounting greed and desire to take the mantel of power after Tiberius’ imminent demise - as Caligula pales at the thought and Tiberius takes his leave from the room, he remarks rather jovially "you're looking not well at all!"

Gabriel Byrne
Dublin born, Catholic reared, Gabriel Byrne almost became a priest! Thank goodness for a trip to the big smoke of London in his teens as part of his training, where he caught a glimpse of some long-legged young girls in the latest fashion - the mini-skirt. This was enough for him to realise celibacy probably wasn’t for him, and he quickly abandoned thoughts of that vocation. He continued to dabble over the years, studying archaeology, being a teacher, a cook, involvement with Gaeilge (Irish) and other languages. He eventually took a part in the Irish TV Soap Opera The Riordains and his acting career was launched. He continues to be a restless practitioner of many arts and charities, alongside his ongoing thespian endeavours.

Biggest: The Usual Suspects (1995) - Dean Keaton

But my favourite is... Excalibur (1981)
Excalibur, in which Gabriel Byrne made his film debut as Uther Pendragon, was an important film of my childhood. It was this magical fantasy film about the Legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, dealt with in a dark and quite sinister manner. Come to think of it, since it’s rated fifteens and I was about seven at the time, I’m surprised I was allowed to watch it. But of course special permission was granted because it was a rarity by being a highly rated Irish film, and because it was made just up the road from my home! Parts of it were filmed in Glendalough Wicklow, where we used to go for family walks on the weekends. In the aftermath my elder sister and I, obsessed with this wonderful film, used to find the exact spot where the actors themselves once stood balanced on the slippery stepping stones below the cascading Powerscourt Waterfall. And similarly balanced, with sticks for swords, we’d pretend we were King Arthur and Sir Lancelot locked in battle.

Oh and another thing… The Lady of the Lake, whose arm rises from the lake to offer King Arthur the sword Excalibur itself… The arm actually belongs to a lady my parents knew called Ursula, who was a synchronised swimmer. They love to make the remark that “A friend of theirs had a hand in the making of Excalibur!”

Stephen Rea
It’s fair to say that Stephen Rea’s Stardom has been assured by his ongoing collaborations with Director Neil Jordan, commencing with Angel (1982) and most firmly set in stone by his leading role in The Crying Game (1992), for which he was Academy nominated. Aside from his featuring in now ten of Jordan's ventures, most of which have become classics, he is constantly involved in stage performances, Directing plays, and many other acting roles amongst other things. My favourites of Rea’s are these two from the Neil Jordan catalogue both of the supernatural variety...

Biggest: Interview with a Vampire (1994) - Santiago

But my favourite is... The Company of Wolves (1984)
This gothic fairytale horror is loosely based around the tale of Little Red Ridding Hood insofar as there's a little girl with a red hood, a granny and lots of wolves, but the story veers off on creative and visually inventive tangents. It's a bit like Labyrinth's evil twin, with no cuddly Ludo and jaunty tunes. The mysterious Sarah Patterson, who did not pursue a futher career in acting despite her great promise, plays Rosaleen the naive and curious child on the verge of adulthood, who encounters a handsome stranger in the forest with eyebrows that meet in the middle. Rea's role is as part of a cautionary tale of Granny's in which a groom just married goes missing but returns a changed man. The stories within stories are however all a part of a dream ... or are they?

Cillian Murphy
How many people can say their face is on a postage stamp… who aren’t royal and/or dead that is? Cork born and bred Cillian Murphy in 2008 became the face of one of four Irish films honoured by An Post (the Irish Postal service) with a limited edition stamp. For reasons I won’t bore you with I thoroughly dislike the film it represents and don’t even want to mention it (the initials are twtstb) but that’s not Murphy’s fault, he’s not the problem. Fortunately I’m in the minority, everybody else loved it, and everything he touches lately is pure gold. Over the last ten years he has run the wide gauntlet of roles from masculine (twtstb) to feminine (Breakfast on Pluto), likeable heroes (28 Days Later) to detestable villains (Batman Begins, Red Eye) alike. He’s been dubbed a chameleon for his diversity, and it seems that might stick… he does look a bit reptilian… with those eyes… but a very attractive one. And there’s plenty more to come for this handsome and apparently quite grounded blue-eyed boy!

Biggest: Inception (2010) - Robert Fischer

But my favourite is... 28 Days Later (2002)
The opening scenes to this post-pandemic Zombie action horror flick is one of the best I’ve seen. When Jim (Murphy) just awakened from a coma and still in his hospital scrubs walks through a completely deserted London to the ideally chosen music of Godspeed you Black Emperor! It’s an incredible thing. Especially considering that simulating an empty London around the constantly teeming and busy area of Westminster wasn’t accomplished with the help of CGI. Rather Director Danny Boyle achieved it by some artful juggling with limited permission to section off roads in stages for very short periods and early morning filming, causing utter chaos for London residents, tourists and the likes. But the effect, particularly if you’ve ever spent time being penguined along by the unending bustling crowds of London, is amazing and perfect – the thought that a City like London could ever be that deserted, now that is true horror! Oh yeah and the rest of the film, when the zombies turn up, is pretty scary too!

Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson
I’m putting Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson together here simply because my favourite of both of their films is the same film. And since Colin Farrell has so much exposure on the internet as the bad-boy celebrity, that you couldn’t click a link without hitting some article about his life and latest antics, I’m more inclined to devote some words to the staunch Mr. Gleeson. Gleeson went to the same university as I did, UCD, and did a stretch as a teacher before his film acting career exploded at the age of thirty-five. Since then he has starred or appeared in most of Ireland’s biggest films throughout the nineties – the Field, The Treaty, Into the West, Michael Collins, I Went Down, The Snapper, The Butcher Boy, all familiar titles on the home front. In terms of Hollywood his most recognised films are Braveheart, Gangs of New York, ColdMountain and (oops) Troy and these ones…

Brendan Gleeson's Biggest: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010) – Mad-Eye Moody

But my favourite is… In Bruges (2008)
This film is set in and features the picturesque medieval city of Bruges in Belgium. Colin Farrell is brilliant as Ray, a young hitman, having massively messed up on a job, sent into hiding by his boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes). He is chaperoned by another older and more experienced hitman Ken (Gleeson), and the two are advised to hang tight and check out the sights. But restless and unimpressed Ray is not as thrilled by the quaint tourist attractions as his colleague, and is struggling with inner demons, whilst they wait for the call from Harry to find out what happens next. Very dark humour, plenty of action and superb acting performances from the two leads, and a cultural lesson to boot!

As it happens a film featuring four of these actors is due to be released this year 2011. At Swim-Two-Birds, an adaptation of the novel by Flann O’Brien, will star Colin Farrell, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson and Gabriel Byrne amongst others… will be keeping an eye out for that one.

Honourable Mentions
Pete Postlewaithe
Biggest: Romeo and Juliet (1996)
But my favourite is: Dragonheart (1996)

Colm Meaney
Biggest: The TV series Star Trek: The Next Generatuin and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
But my favourite is: The Snapper (1993)

Pierce Brosnan
Biggest and my favourites: James Bond: Golden Eye (1995),  Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) The World is Not Enough (1999), Die Another Day (2002)