Bairbre Dowling
Bairbre Dowling (born Barbara Patricia Dowling; 27 March 1953 – 20 January 2016) was an Irish actress. She appeared in films, frequently on the American stage and on US TV as well as in Irish productions. Early life. Dowling was born in Dublin, the daughter of actor Vincent Dowling and actress Brenda Doyle (who died in a motorcycle collision in 1981). She had three sisters, Louise, Valerie and Rachael, and a half-brother, Cian. Irish politician Richard Boyd Barrett was Dowling's biological half-brother, though this fact was not made public until after Vincent Dowling's death in  2013. Career. Stage. In 1970 Dowling was part of the company at the Abbey Theatre, where she appeared in "The Becauseway" (1970) and "Rites" (1973). In 1977 she worked with her father at the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in Cleveland, Ohio. She shared the stage with her husband Colm Meaney in "And a Nightingale Sang" in 1985. She was seen on Broadway in "Da" by Hugh Leonard. In 2011 she appeared in a play by playwright Teresa Deevy, "Temporal Powers", a Mint Theatre production presented as part of the Teresa Deevy project. She established an ongoing presence at the Miniature  Theatre of Chester in Massachusetts, often working with her father as director or co-star. In 1992 she starred in "Last Tag", and in 1993 in "An Audience with Fanny Kemble," a one-woman show by Anne Ludlum, based on the life of actress and writer Fanny Kemble. In 2004, she appeared in Isobel Mahon's "So Long, Sleeping Beauty", and in 2007, in "The Gravity of Honey", in "Dear Liar" and in "Is Life Worth It?" in 2009. Film, television and radio. Dowling's first film appearance was in Francis Ford Coppola's "Dementia 13" (1963). She acted with  her husband in the PBS television film "Playboy of the Western World" in 1983, in John Huston's 1987 film "The Dead", and in the 1994 drama "War of the Buttons". She also appeared in John Boorman's "Zardoz" (1973), and "Changing Habits" (1997). American television credits included roles in "Murder She Wrote", "Crossing Jordan", "Days of our Lives", "" and "ER". On RTÉ, she was known for a long-running role in "The Riordans". Dowling was a member of The California Artists Radio Theatre (CART) ensemble and performed in over 30 of their live radio plays. Personal life. Between 1982  and 1994, Dowling was married to actor Colm Meaney, with whom she had a daughter, Brenda, in 1984. Dowling died in 2016, aged 62, in New York.