Character actor Thomas Patrick McKenna was born in Mullagh, County
Cavan, Ireland, in 1929. A prolific theatre actor throughout his
career, he made his stage debut in "Summer and Smoke" by
Tennessee Williams at the
Pike Theatre in Dublin in 1954.
He made his film debut in the IRA-Nazi drama
The Night Fighters (1960) and from this
uncredited beginning he moved up to tenth billing in
The Siege of Sidney Street (1960). His next
major movie was in 1964's
Girl with Green Eyes (1964), by which time he had started a
successful television career.
He made his TV debut in
Espionage (1963) and over the next few years appeared in
several more TV shows. His versatility enabled him to play three
characters in
The Avengers (1961). He was also featured in such well-regarded shows
as
Adam Adamant Lives! (1966),
Dixon of Dock Green (1955) and
The Saint (1962).
Meanwhile, his film career was developing along literary lines, and he
was featured in
Brendan Behan's
The Quare Fellow (1962), the
Sean O'Casey biopic
Young Cassidy (1965) and
James Joyce's
Ulysses (1967). He took smaller parts in such epics as
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) and
Anne of the Thousand Days (1969).
British films such as
Perfect Friday (1970) and
Villain (1971) allowed him to showcase his
suave, urbane persona before trying something different in the
controversial
Straw Dogs (1971). He appeared alongside a young
Anthony Hopkins in
All Creatures Great and Small (1975)
before starring with
John Gielgud for the second time, this time in
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1977).
Over the next few years his co-stars were as diverse as
Leonard Rossiter
(
Britannia Hospital (1982)),
Timothy Dalton (
The Doctor and the Devils (1985)),
Ben Kingsley (
Pascali's Island (1988)) and
Dolph Lundgren (
Red Scorpion (1988)).
Not all of these films were successes, but McKenna always gave good
value for the money and developed themes of his, such as an interest in
Irish issues, in
The Outsider (1979). His last released film was
Valmont (1989), which was
unfortunately completely overshadowed by
Dangerous Liaisons (1988), which was based on
the same novel.
Over the years he made numerous guest appearances in TV series such
as
Minder (1979),
Casualty (1986),
Lovejoy (1986),
Inspector Morse (1987),
Heartbeat (1992) and
Ballykissangel (1996). McKenna has
also been prominent in TV movies and series, featuring in
Charles Dickens'
Masterpiece Theatre: Bleak House (1985),
Stendhal's
Scarlet and Black (1993) and most recently an adaptation of
Henry James'
The American (1998).
McKenna is up there with the greats of character acting such as
Lionel Jeffries,
Dennis Price,
Richard Wattis,
Wilfrid Hyde-White and
John Le Mesurier.
Fair City(1989)as Tom Mitchell
The Libertine(2004)as Black Rod
Waking the Dead(2000)as Phil Brown
Special Collector's Edition(2010)
Patrick Kavanagh No Man's Fool(2004)as Self, Actor
Mantrap: Straw Dogs - The Final Cut(2003)as Self - Actor, Major John Scott
Five to Eleven(1986)as Self - Presenter
Callan: This Man Alone(2015)as Richmond
