website death_date death_place years_active birth_place birth_date spouse birthname article_title name occupation
http://vincentdowling.com/ 9 may 2013 boston , massachusetts 1950 -- 2013 dublin , ireland 7 september 1929 brenda doyle ; olwen o'herlihy vincent gerard dowling vincent dowling
 vincent dowling actor , director
vincent dowling

vincent gerard dowling -lrb- 7 september 1929 -- 9 may 2013 -rrb- was an irish actor and director .
he was married to the late irish actress , brenda doyle -lrb- who died in a car crash in 1981 -rrb- .
he is the father of actress bairbre dowling , and the former father-in-law of irish actor , colm meaney .
in may 2013 , the politician and td , richard boyd barrett , revealed that dowling was his biological father , as a result of a relationship with actress sinéad cusack in 1967 .
dowling first came to prominence in ireland in the 1950s for his role as christy kennedy in the long-running radio soap opera , `` the kennedys of castleross '' and as a member of the abbey theatre company .
he served as artistic and producing director of the great lakes shakespeare festival -lrb- now the great lakes theater festival -rrb- in cleveland , ohio from 1976 to 1984 .
during his tenure at glsf , he directed , produced and acted in many classical works , by shakespeare and others .
he is credited with discovering award-winning actor tom hanks .
dowling founded the miniature theatre of chester -lrb- now the chester theatre company -rrb- , in chester , massachusetts , in 1990 .
dowling received an emmy for producing and directing the pbs film `` the playboy of the western world '' , based on john millington synge 's 1907 play of the same name .
dowling was the j. garber drushal distinguished visiting professor at the college of wooster , in wooster , ohio , during the 1985-86 academic year .
dowling 's first autobiographical book is `` astride the moon : a theatrical life '' , isbn 0-86327-828-0 -lrb- wolfhound press , 2000 -rrb- .
he resided in massachusetts with his second wife , olwen o'herlihy , until his death .
dowling 's papers , from 1976 onward , are housed at the kent state university and john carroll university libraries .
