Denis O'Dea

Denis O'Dea (26 April 1905 – 5 November 1978) was an Irish stage and film actor.
He was born in Dublin and attended Synge Street CBS. When very young he and his mother Kathleen (from County Kerry) moved in with her sister, who kept a boarding house at 54 South Richmond Street. He worked in insurance until taking up acting. O'Dea was a leading member of Dublin's Abbey Theatre where he had a great acting career from 1929 to 1953; a list of his performances can be found in the Abbey archives. He also appeared in numerous plays by Irish playwright Teresa Deevy, some of which toured New York and England. His work led to a number of notable film roles, including two mid-1930s John Ford films, The Informer and The Plough and the Stars (1936), and the part of the police inspector in pursuit of IRA man James Mason in Carol Reed's Odd Man Out (1947).
Other films in which he appeared include The Mark of Cain (1947), The Fallen Idol (1948, again for Reed, and again as a police inspector), Alfred Hitchcock's Under Capricorn (1949), The Bad Lord Byron (1949), Landfall (1949), Marry Me! (1949), Disney's Treasure Island (1950), Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951), The Long Dark Hall (1951), Mogambo (1953; another John Ford film), Niagara (1953), Never Take No for an Answer (1953), The Rising of the Moon (1957), Captain Lightfoot (1957), Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959), and Esther and the King (1960).
Family
He was married to actress Siobhán McKenna from 1946 until his death in 1978 at the age of 73; they had one son, Donnacha O'Dea, who is a champion swimmer and professional poker player.
Filmography
Guests of the Nation (1935)
The Informer (1935) – Street Singer
Beloved Enemy (1936) – Sean's I.R.A. Friend (uncredited)
The Plough and the Stars (1936) – The Covey
Odd Man Out (1947) – Inspector
The Mark of Cain (1947) – Sir William Godgrey
The Fallen Idol (1948) – Inspector Crowe
The Bad Lord Byron (1949) – Prosecuting Counsel
Marry Me! (1949) – Saunders
Under Capricorn (1949) – Mr. Corrigan
Landfall (1949) – Capt. Burnaby
Treasure Island (1950) – Dr. Livesey
The Long Dark Hall (1951) – Sir Charles Morton
Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951) – RAdm. Sir Rodney Leighton
Peppino e Violetta (1951) – Father Damico
Never Take No for an Answer (1951) – Father Damico
Niagara (1953) – Inspector Starkey
Sea Devils (1953) – Lethierry
Mogambo (1953) – Father Josef
Captain Lightfoot (1955) – Regis Donnell
The Rising of the Moon (1957) – Police Sergeant Tom O'Hara (3rd Episode)
The Story of Esther Costello (1957) – Father Devlin
Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959) – Father Murphy
Esther and the King (1960) – Mordecai (final film role)
Playography
The Reapers (1930)
A Disciple (1931)
Temporal Powers (1932)
Katie Roche (1937) New York
Katie Roche (1937) Cambridge, England
Temporal Powers (1937)
The King of Spain's Daughter (1938) Dublin
The King of Spain's Daughter (1939) Cork
References
External links
Denis O'Dea at The Teresa Deevy Archive
Denis O'Dea at The Abbey Theatre Archive
1905 births
1978 deaths
Irish male film actors
Irish male stage actors
Abbey Theatre
People from Portobello, Dublin
20th-century Irish male actors
Male actors from County Dublin
People educated at Synge Street CBS