T. P. McKenna
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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T. P. McKenna, born Thomas Patrick McKenna, (September 7, 1929 – February 13, 2011) was an Irish actor who worked on stage, in film and television in Ireland and the UK from the 1950s.
McKenna was born in Mullagh, County Cavan. During the 1960s and 1970s he appeared regularly in popular television dramas, including The Avengers (1964, 1965, 1968), Dangerman (1965), The Saint (1966, 1968), Adam Adamant (1967), Jason King (1972), The Sweeney (1975), Blake's 7 (1978), Minder (1984) and Doctor Who (1989).
He played Richmond in the Thames Television series Callan (1972) and made a dozen appearances in Crown Court (1974-82) mainly as barrister Patrick Canty, while also appearing in the popular ATV anthology drama series Love Story (1965, 1968).
He also featured promimently in other television dramas including The Duchess of Malfi (1972), The Changeling (1974), Napoleon and Love (1974), Holocaust (1978), The Manions of America (1981), To The Lighthouse (1982), Bleak House (1985), Strong Medicine (1986), Jack the Ripper (1988), and the final episode of Inspector Morse (2000).
He also had prominent film roles in Ulysses (1967), Sam Peckinpah's film Straw Dogs (1971) where he appeared alongside Dustin Hoffman and A Portrait of the Artist As A Young Man (1977). He is also remembered for his work in the radio series Ballylenon, starring as Phonsie Docherty. He was considered one of Ireland's finest Joycean actors and narrated the Emmy-winning documentary Is There One Who Understands Me (RTE, 1982).
On stage he appeared with leading theatre companies including the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre Company. His West End debut was as Cranly in Stephen D at the St Martin's Theatre in 1963.
He also directed on occasion, and had productions of J. M. Synge's The Playboy of the Western World (Nottingham Playhouse, 1968), Thomas Kilroy's The Death and Resurrection of Mr.Roache (Abbey Theatre, 1973) and Seán O'Casey's The Shadow of A Gunman (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 1980) to his credit.
McKenna also played one of the main characters in the BBC Radio 4 series Baldi, alongside David Threlfall.
He died at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
Selected filmography
- Broth of a Boy (1959)
- Home Is the Hero (1959)
- Shake Hands with the Devil (1959)
- A Terrible Beauty (1960)
- The Siege of Sidney Street (1960)
- Girl with Green Eyes (1964)
- The Beast in the Cellar (1970)
- Exposure (1978)
- Silver Dream Racer (1980)
- The Outsider (1980)
- Britannia Hospital (1982)
- Memed My Hawk (1984)
- Pascali's Island (1988)
- Red Scorpion (1989)
- Valmont (1989)
- The Chief (1991-1994)
- The Boys & Girl from County Clare (2003)
- The Libertine (2004)
