Brefni O'Rorke
Brefni O'Rorke (26 June 1889 – 11 November 1946) was an Irish film actor. Early life. He was born as William Francis Breffni O'Rorke at 2 Esplande Villas in Dollymount, Clontarf, Dublin on 26 June 1889, and baptised at Clontarf Parish Church on 1 August 1889. His father, Frederick O'Rorke, was a cork merchant, and his mother, Jane Caroline O'Rorke, née Morgan, was an actress. He had an older brother, Frederick, who was twelve years old than him. Career. He began studying acting with his mother and made his professional début in 1912 at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin in  a production of Shaw's "John Bull's Other Island". While still living in Dublin, he met and married in 1916 Alice Cole, a chorus-girl turned actress, who had divorced her first husband and immigrated from South Africa with her young son. Thus O'Rorke became the stepfather of Cyril Cusack. In 1939 he appeared in several broadcasts in the new fledgling BBC television broadcast, including a play by Irish playwright Teresa Deevy called "The King of Spain's Daughter", and produced by Denis Johnston. Television. National Television started in October 1936, initially broadcast just two hours a day. National  Television stopped broadcast at the start of the War, and didn't restart until 1946. "Plays" (like everything else) could last just one hour maximum, but some were only 25 minutes long. Also, there was no recording possible, so any repeat was really a new broadcast (as in "The Advantages of Paternity"). Dramas. Others.