Ray McAnally facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Ray McAnally
Born	(1926-03-30)30 March 1926 Buncrana, County Donegal, Ireland
Died	15 June 1989(1989-06-15) (aged 63) County Wicklow, Ireland
Years active	1957–1989
Spouse(s)	Ronnie Masterson ​ (m. 1951)​
Children	4, including Conor and Aonghus
Awards	BAFTAs: Film Actor in a Supporting Role 1986 The Mission 1989 My Left Foot Television Actor 1989 A Very British Coup

Ray McAnally (born March 30, 1926 – died June 15, 1989) was a talented actor from Ireland. He won three important awards called BAFTA Awards in the late 1980s. These included two BAFTA Film Awards for Best Supporting Actor. He won for his roles in the movies The Mission (1986) and My Left Foot (1989). He also won a BAFTA Television Award for Best Actor for the TV show A Very British Coup in 1989. In 2020, he was named one of Ireland's greatest film actors by The Irish Times.

Early Life and Education

Ray McAnally was born in Buncrana, a town by the sea in County Donegal, Ireland. When he was three years old, his family moved to the nearby town of Moville. His father was a bank manager.

Ray went to school at St Eunan's College in Letterkenny. When he was 16, he wrote, produced, and put on a musical play called Madame Screwball. After school, at age 18, he started studying at Maynooth Seminary. However, he soon decided that becoming a priest was not for him and left. In 1947, he joined the Abbey Theatre, a famous theatre in Dublin. There, he met and married actress Ronnie Masterson.

A Career on Stage and Screen

Ray McAnally and his wife, Ronnie Masterson, started their own theatre company called Old Quay Productions. In the 1960s and 1970s, they put on many classic plays. Ray made his first appearance in London's West End theatre in 1962. He was in a play called A Nice Bunch of Cheap Flowers. He also gave a great performance as George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Piccadilly Theatre.

Television Roles

Ray was a well-known face on television. He often appeared in exciting thriller shows. These included The Avengers, Man in a Suitcase, and Strange Report. In 1968, he played the main character, Alec Spindoe, in a series called Spindoe. This show was about a gangster returning to power after being in prison. He was very good at speaking with different English accents.

In 1976, Ray McAnally was in the TV drama series Crown Court. He played a character named Robert Scard. In 1988, he appeared in the TV mini-series Jack the Ripper. He played Sir William Gull, a doctor to Queen Victoria.

Award-Winning Film Performances

Even though he often acted in the Abbey Theatre and at Irish festivals, Ray McAnally became very famous for his TV and film work later in his life. His role as Cardinal Altamirano in the movie The Mission (1986) earned him awards from the Evening Standard and BAFTA.

He was nominated for a BAFTA award for his role in the BBC's A Perfect Spy. In 1989, he won the 1988 BAFTA for Best Actor for his performance in A Very British Coup. This role also won him a Jacob's Award. Just a few months before he passed away, he played the father of Christy Brown in the movie My Left Foot (1989). Christy Brown was played by Daniel Day-Lewis in this Academy Award-winning film.

Later Life and Legacy

Ray McAnally passed away suddenly from a heart attack on June 15, 1989. He was 63 years old. He was still married to actress Ronnie Masterson when he died, even though they lived in separate homes. After his death, he received another BAFTA Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for his final film, My Left Foot, in 1990.

At the time of his death, Ray was supposed to play a character called 'Bull' McCabe in Jim Sheridan's film The Field. The role later went to Richard Harris, who was nominated for an Oscar for his performance. Ray McAnally had also started filming for a drama called First and Last. He had completed almost a third of the filming. But after he died, the entire play had to be refilmed with Joss Ackland taking his place.

Ray McAnally had four children: Conor, Aonghus, Máire, and Niamh. Conor is a producer who works in Texas. Aonghus is a television and radio presenter and producer in Ireland.

Filmography