# Joseph Tomelty

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

## Life and career

Born in Portaferry in 1911, he was the son of James Tomelty, a skilled fiddler who was nicknamed "Rollicking"; and the brother of Peter Tomelty, a tenor and recording artist. Tomelty's exposure to music at a young age influenced his work as a playwright, with several of his stage works being named after songs, including The Singing Bird (1948), Down the Heather Glen (1953) and The Drunken Sailor (1954).
Tomelty was a co-founder, in 1940,of the Group Theatre in Belfast, and served as its general manager until 1951.
He married Lena Milligan in 1942. They had two daughters together: Frances Tomelty is an actress and the first wife of singer and musician Sting; while Roma Tomelty (d. 22 April 2020) was also an actress.

## 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

* Odd Man Out (1947) - 'Gin' Jimmy, the cabbie
* Shark Island (1951) - Seán
* Treasure Hunt (1952) - Poacher
* The Sound Barrier (1952) - Will Sparks
* You're Only Young Twice (1952) - Dan McEntee
* The Gentle Gunman (1952) - Dr Brannigan
* The Gentle Maiden (1953 TV movie) - John Clarke
* The Oracle (1953) - Terry Roche
* Melba (1953) - Thomas Mitchell
* Meet Mr. Lucifer (1953) - Mr. Pedelty
* Hell Below Zero (1954) - Capt. McPhee
* Front Page Story (1954) - Dan
* Hobson's Choice (1954) - Jim Heeler
* Devil Girl from Mars (1954) - Prof. Arnold Hennessey
* Happy Ever After (1954) - Dooley
* The Young Lovers (1954) - Moffatt
* Simba (1955) - Dr. Hughes
* Bedevilled (1955) - Father Cunningham
* A Kid for Two Farthings (1955) - Vagrant
* John and Julie (1955) - Mr. Davidson
* Timeslip (1955) - Detective Inspector Cleary
* A Prize of Gold (1955) - Uncle Dan
* Moby Dick (1956) - Peter Coffin (voice dubbed by John Huston)
* A Night to Remember (1958) - Dr. William O'Loughlin
* Tread Softly Stranger (1958) - Joe Ryan
* The Captain's Table (1959) - Dalrymple
* Upstairs and Downstairs (1959) - Arthur Farringdon
* Next to No Wife (1959 TV movie) - Canon Fergus Brodie
* Life Is a Circus (1960) - Joe Winter
* Hell Is a City (1960) - Furnisher Steele
* The Day They Robbed the Bank of England (1960) - Cohoun
* Lancelot and Guinevere (1963) - Sir Kaye
* The Black Torment (1964) - Sir Giles Fordyke

## The McCooeys

Tomelty'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.