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Robert Archibald Shaw was born on August 9, 1927, in Westhoughton, Lancashire, England, the eldest son of Doreen Nora (Avery), a nurse, and Thomas Archibald Shaw, a doctor. His paternal grandfather was Scottish, from Argyll. Shaw's mother, who was born in Piggs Peak, Swaziland, met his father while she was a nurse at a hospital in Truro, Cornwall. His father was an alcoholic and a manic depressive; he committed suicide when Robert was only 12. He had three sisters--Elisabeth, Joanna and Wendy--and one brother, Alexander.

As a boy, he attended school in Truro and was quite an athlete, competing in rugby, squash and track events but turned down an offer for a scholarship at 17 to go to London, with further education in Cambridge, as he did not want a career in medicine but, luckily for the rest of us, in acting. He was also inspired by one of the schoolmasters, Cyril Wilkes, who got him to read just about everything, including all of the classics. Wilkes would take three or four of the boys to London to see plays. The first play Robert would ever see was "Hamlet" in 1944 with Sir John Gielgud at the Haymarket. Robert went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts with a £1,000 inheritance from his grandmother. He went on from the Academy, after two years (1946-1948) to Stratford-on-Avon, where he was directed by Gielgud, who said to Shaw, "I do admire you and think you've got a lot of ability, and I'd like to help you, but you make me so nervous." He then went on to make his professional stage debut in 1949 and tour Australia in the same year with the Old Vic.

He had joined the Old Vic at the invitation of Tyrone Guthrie, who had directed him as the Duke of Suffolk in "Henry VIII" at Stratford. He played nothing but lesser Shakespearean roles, Cassio in "Othello" and Lysander in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and toured Europe and South Africa with the company. Shaw was sold on Shakespeare and thought that it would be his theatrical life at that stage. He was discovered while performing in "Much Ado About Nothing" in 1950 at Stratford by Sir Alec Guinness, who suggested he come to London to do Hamlet with him. He then went on to his first film role, a very small part in the classic De l'or en barres (1951) with Guinness but a start nonetheless. It was also at this time that he married his first wife, Jennifer Bourne, an actress he had met while working at the Old Vic, and married her in Sallsbury, South Rhodesia, on August 1, 1952. Together they would have four daughters: Deborah, Penny, Rachel and Katherine.

He would also appear briefly in Les briseurs de barrages (1955) and did the London production of "Tiger at the Gates" in June 1955 as Topman. He would also make "Hill in Korea" around that time and then, after taking on several jobs as a struggling actor and to support his growing family, he would be cast as Dan Tempest in The Buccaneers (1956). Shaw did not take his role seriously but made £10,000 for eight months' work. It was around that time that he wrote his first novel, "The Hiding Place." It was a success, selling 12,000 copies in England and about the same in France and in the United States. He also wrote a dramatization of it that was produced on commercial television in England, and Playhouse 90 (1956) aired a different dramatization in America. Around 1959, he became involved with well-known actress Mary Ure, who was married to actor John Osborne at the time. He slipped her his telephone number one night at 3 a.m. while visiting the couple, and she called him the next day. It was around then, in 1960, that Robert Shaw became a reporter for England's Queen magazine and covered the Olympics in Rome. Shaw and Ure acted together in Middleton's The Changeling at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 1961. He was playing the part of an ugly servant in love with the mistress of the house, who persuades him to murder her fiance. Shaw and Ure had a child on August 31 even though they were still married to their other spouses. His wife, Jennifer, and Ure had children of his only weeks apart from each other. Ure divorced Osborne and married Shaw in April 1963. The couple was often quoted by the press as being "very much in love," and they would have four children together: Colin, Elizabeth, Hannah and Ian. That same year, after making the next two films, Alerte sur le Vaillant (1962) and Le Concierge (1963), he made Bons Baisers de Russie (1963) and was unforgettable as blond assassin, Donald 'Red' Grant.

He also made Tomorrow at Ten (1963), as well as a TV version of Hamlet as Claudius. He would then film The Luck of Ginger Coffey (1964) with Ure and then star in La Bataille des Ardennes (1965) as German Panzer commander Hessler. He wrote "The Flag" on the set of the film. He was nominated for his next role, as Henry VIII in Un homme pour l'éternité (1966), an outstanding, unequal lead performance. He would write his fourth novel "The Man in the Glass Booth," which was later made into a play with Donald Pleasence and later into a film with Maximilian Schell. In 1967, he again starred with his wife in Custer, homme de l'Ouest (1967) and went on to The Birthday Party (1969) and La Bataille d'Angleterre (1969). One of his best performances of this decade was also as Spanish conqueror Pizarro in The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1969). His last published novel, "A Card from Morocco," was also a big success and he went on to make Deux hommes en fuite (1970) with Malcolm McDowell as two escaped convicts in a Latin American country. As the father of Churchill in Les griffes du lion (1972), he was once again his brilliant self, stealing the scene from John Mills, Patrick Magee, Anthony Hopkins and Ian Holm. After his portrayal of Lord Randolph Churchill, he made Le souffle de la peur (1972), a horror movie with Ure, Sondra Locke and Sally Kellerman. As chauffeur Steven Ledbetter in La méprise (1973), he falls in love with Sarah Miles, an aristocratic widow he helps recover from a nervous breakdown. The film took the prestigious Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and was quite a thought-provoking film.

It was his performances in the following two films--USA-produced L'Arnaque (1973) and Les Pirates du métro (1974)--that Shaw became familiar once again to American audiences, but it was his portrayal as a grizzled Irish shark hunter named Quint, in Les Dents de la mer (1975), that everyone remembers--even to this day. Hard to believe that Shaw wasn't that impressed with the script and even confided to a friend, Hector Elizondo: "They want me to do a movie about this big fish. I don't know if I should do it or not." When Elizondo asked why Shaw had reservations, Shaw said he'd never heard of the director and didn't like the title, "JAWS." It's also incredible that as the biggest box office film at the time, which was the first to gross more than $100 million worldwide and that he had ever been part of, he didn't make a cent from it because of the taxes he had to pay from working in the United States, Canada and Ireland. It was also during that time that he became a depressed recluse following the death of his wife, who had taken an accidental overdose of barbiturates and alcohol. Some have speculated throughout the years that her death was suicidal, but there was no evidence of that, and so it is mere sensationalism. Following Un coup de 2 milliards de dollars (1975), he made Double Jeu (1975) and then delivered another brilliant performance as the Sheriff of Nottingham in La rose et la flèche (1976). During the same year, he also made Le Pirate des Caraïbes (1976) with Geneviève Bujold and James Earl Jones, a very lighthearted pirate adventure.

His next film, Black Sunday (1977), with Shaw playing an Israeli counterterrorist agent trying to stop a terrorist organization called Black September, which is plotting an attack at the Super Bowl, was a big success both with critics and at the box office. I wasn't surprised, considering the depth to which he was also involved in writing the script, although he didn't receive billing for it. Shaw was very happy with the success of his acting career but remained a depressed recluse in his personal life until he finished Black Sunday (1977), when he found himself in love with his secretary of 15 years, Virginia Dewitt Jansen (Jay). They were wed on July 29, 1976, in Hamilton, Bermuda. He adopted her son, Charles, and the couple also had one son, Thomas. During his stay in Bermuda, Shaw began work on his next movie, Les Grands Fonds (1977), which teamed him and writer Peter Benchley once again, which may have been a mistake in that everyone expected another Les Dents de la mer (1975). At one point, discussing how bad the film was going, Shaw could be quoted as saying to Nick Nolte, "It's a treasure picture Nick; it's a treasure picture." It did well at the box office but not with critics, although they did hail Shaw as the saving grace. He had done it for the money, as he was to do with his next film, for he had decided when Ure died that life was short and he needed to provide for his 10 children.

In 1977, Shaw traveled to Yugoslavia, where he starred in L'ouragan vient de Navarone (1978), a sequel to Les Canons de Navarone (1961). He revived the lead role of British MI6 agent Mallory, originally played by Gregory Peck. He was a big box office draw, and some producers were willing to pay top wages for his work, but he felt restricted by the parts he was being offered. "I have it in mind to stop making these big-budget extravaganzas, to change my pattern of life. I wanted to prove, I think, that I could be an international movie star. Now that I've done it, I see the valuelessness of it." In early 1978, Shaw appeared in Avalanche Express (1979) which was to be his last film; in which he played General Marenkov, a senior Russian official who decides to defect to the West and reveals to a CIA agent, played by Lee Marvin, that the Russians are trying to develop biological weapons. An alcoholic most of his life, Shaw died--before the film was completed--of a heart attack at the age of 51 on August 28, 1978. In poor health due to alcoholism during most of the filming, he in fact completed over 90% of his scenes before the death of director Mark Robson two months earlier, in June 1978, brought production to a halt.

While living in Ireland and taking a hiatus from work, Shaw was driving from Castlebar to his home in Tourmakeady, Ireland, with wife, Virginia, and young son, Thomas, after spending the day playing golf with friends on a local course as well as shopping with Virginia in the town. As they approached their cottage, he felt chest pains which he claimed to Virginia had started earlier that day while he was playing golf but whose pains subsided. He pulled the car over a few hundred yards from his cottage and told her he would get out and walk the pains off. After taking four or five steps from the parked car, he collapsed by the side of the road, and his wife ran to the cottage to phone for help. An ambulance arrived 15 minutes later, and Shaw was taken to Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Born Dublin, Ireland on July 11 1929. Educated at Synge Street Catholic boys school. Started acting aged 8 in the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin. Playing everything from Beckett to Shakespeare, he has appeared in theatre, TV and film constantly since 1959. Awards include: Helen Hayes Award, Outstanding Supporting Performer, Non-Resident Production (1991) for "The Playboy of the Western World"; nominated for SAG Award, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role (1999) for Vieilles canailles (1998); ESB Lifetime Achievement award for work in the Irish theatre. He lived in Dublin, Ireland, where he died on 12 February 2012 at the age of 82. Children: Son, David. Daughter, Miriam.

Johnny Murphy was born on 2 October 1943 in Dublin, Ireland. He was an actor, known for Les Commitments (1991), Waiting for Godot (2001) and Les enquêtes de Remington Steele (1982). He died on 22 February 2016 in Dublin, Ireland.

Tracy Reed was born on 21 September 1941 in Barnet, Middlesex, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Dr. Folamour ou : comment j'ai appris à ne plus m'en faire et à aimer la bombe (1964), Quand l'inspecteur s'emmêle (1964) and Casino Royale (1967). She was married to Christopher McCabe, Bill Simpson, Neil Hallett and Edward Fox. She died on 2 May 2012 in West Cork, Ireland.

One of Hollywood's finest character actors and most accomplished scene stealers, Barry Fitzgerald was born William Joseph Shields in 1888 in Dublin, Ireland. Educated to enter the banking business, the diminutive Irishman with the irresistible brogue was bitten by the acting bug in the 1920s and joined Dublin's world-famous Abbey Players. He subsequently starred in the Abbey Theatre production of Sean O'Casey's Juno And The Paycock, a role that he recreated in his film debut for director Alfred Hitchcock in 1930. He was coaxed to the U.S. in 1935 by John Ford to appear in Ford's film adaptation of another O'Casey masterpiece, Révolte à Dublin (1936). Fitzgerald took up residence in Hollywood and went on to give outstanding performances in such films as Les Hommes de la mer (1940), Qu'elle était verte ma vallée (1941), Rien qu'un coeur solitaire (1944), Dix petits indiens (1945), Révolte à bord (1946) and what is probably the role for which he is most fondly remembered, L'homme tranquille (1952). He won the Academy Award For Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of gruff, aging Father Fitzgibbon in La route semée d'étoiles (1944). He was also nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for the same role and was the only actor to ever be so honored. Barry Fitzgerald died in his beloved Dublin in 1961.

William Rukard Hurd Hatfield was an American leading man best known for his portrayal of the title character in the Oscar-winning movie Le Portrait de Dorian Gray (1945). A native of New York, Hatfield came to England to study acting at the Chekhov Theatre Studio in Devonshire. He had resided in Ireland since the early 1970s. Despite numerous roles in scores of other movies, television and stage productions, he was forever associated with his starring role in the movie version of Oscar Wilde's classic novel.

Although Irish character actor Ray McAnally would become one of his country's most revered stage actors, he will be forever remembered by audiences both here and abroad for a couple of films he made during the last years of his life.

Born on March 30, 1926, in the seaside town of Buncrana and the son of a bank manager, he was educated at St. Eunan's College and entered a seminary at the age of 18. Lucky for us stage and filmgoers, the priesthood proved not to be his calling, and he departed after only a brief time.

Ray joined the Abbey Theatre in 1947 where he met and married actress Ronnie Masterson. The parents of four children, they would later form Old Quay Productions and present an assortment of classic plays in the 60s and 70s. He made a triumphant London theatre debut in 1962 with "A Nice Bunch of Cheap Flowers" and gave a towering performance as George in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" opposite legendary British actress Constance Cummings at the Piccadilly Theatre. He routinely acted in the Abbey and Irish festivals, but then, in the last decade of life, achieved award-winning notice on TV and films.

Ray entered films with a prime role in the obscure Irish romantic comedy Professor Tim (1957) and continued for a short time with featured roles in the British She Didn't Say No (1958), Les diables du désert (1958), La lame nue (1961), Billy Budd (1962) and He Who Rides a Tiger (1965). Moving into TV, he was handed two crime series -- as a gangland boss in the Spindoe (1968) and an inspector in The Burke Enigma (1978). He also impressed in the mini-series Pollyanna (1973), A Perfect Spy (1987), A Very British Coup (1988), Jack l'éventreur (1988), and Les Grandes Espérances (1989) (as Mr. Jaggers).

Seen from time to time in such films as Quest for Love (1971), Six minutes pour mourir (1972), Mourir à Belfast (1979) and Angel (1982), it was Ray's later impressive performances that started collecting awards. As Cardinal Altamirano in the movie Mission (1986), he earned both Evening Standard and BAFTA awards and his role in the BBC production of A Perfect Spy (1987) earned another BAFTA award (for TV). In the last year of his life, he was absolutely awe-inspiring as Daniel Day-Lewis's father in the Academy Award-winning film My Left Foot (1989), the story of cerebral palsy victim Christy Brown, who overcame his severe disability to become a flourishing artist and writer.

Just as he was receiving international film attention, the 63-year-old McAnally died suddenly of a heart attack in Ireland on June 15, 1989. He received a third BAFTA award (posthumously) for the last movie mentioned in 1990. A fitting end to a versatile, galvanizing talent.

Sean Lawlor was born on 25 January 1954 in Dublin, Ireland. He was an actor, known for Braveheart (1995), 30,000 Leagues Under the Sea (2007) and Au nom du père (1993). He died on 10 October 2009 in Dublin, Ireland.

Eddie Byrne was born on 31 January 1911 in Dublin, Ireland. He was an actor, known for Star Wars: Épisode IV - Un nouvel espoir (1977), L'Île de la terreur (1966) and Huit heures de sursis (1947). He died on 21 August 1981 in Dublin, Ireland.

American character actor of rather bizarre range, a member of the so-called "John Ford Stock Company." Originally a New York stage actor of some repute, Whitehead entered films in the 1930s. He played a wide variety of character parts, often quite different from his own actual age and type. He is probably most familiar as Al Joad in 'John Ford (I)''s Les Raisins de la colère (1940). But twenty-two years later, in his fifth film for Ford, L'homme qui tua Liberty Valance (1962), Whitehead at 51 was playing a lollipop-licking schoolboy! He continued to work predominantly on the stage, appearing now and again in films or on television. In his last years, he suffered from cancer and died in 1998 in Dublin, Ireland, where he had lived in semi- retirement for many years.

James Flynn was born on 21 August 1965 in Kilmacud, Ireland. He was a producer, known for Vikings (2013), Jane (2007) and La vengeance de Monte Cristo (2002). He was married to Juanita Wilson. He died on 11 February 2023 in Dublin, Ireland.

Albert Sharpe was born on 15 April 1885 in Belfast, Ireland [now Northern Ireland], UK. He was an actor, known for Darby O'Gill et les farfadets (1959), Mariage royal (1951) and Brigadoon (1954). He was married to Margaret Waterson. He died on 13 February 1970 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.

Doreen Keogh was born on 10 April 1924 in Dublin, Ireland. She was an actress, known for The Royle Family (1998), Father Ted (1995) and Breakfast on Pluto (2005). She was married to Jack Jenner and Frank Singuineau. She died on 31 December 2017 in Thomastown, County Kilkenny, Ireland.

Noel Purcell was born on 23 December 1900 in Dublin, Ireland. He was an actor, known for Le Lagon bleu (1949), La vie passionnée de Vincent van Gogh (1956) and Le corsaire rouge (1952). He was married to Eileen Marmion. He died on 3 March 1985 in Dublin, Ireland.

Siobhan McKenna was born on 24 May 1923 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. She was an actress and writer, known for Le docteur Jivago (1965), Le roi des rois (1961) and L'ange pervers (1964). She was married to Denis O'Dea. She died on 16 November 1986 in Dublin, Ireland.

Godfrey Quigley was born on 4 May 1923 in Jerusalem, Palestine [now Israel]. He was an actor, known for Orange mécanique (1971), Barry Lyndon (1975) and La loi du milieu (1971). He was married to Genevieve Lyons. He died on 7 September 1994 in Dublin, Ireland.

Phil Lonergan was an actor, known for Black Widow (2021), The Batman (2022) and Le Cinquième Élément (1997). He died on 28 October 2021 in Galway, Connacht, Ireland.

Educated at Loreto College, North Great George's Street, Dublin. Joined Gaiety School of Acting in 1947, began acting professionally with the Radio Éireann Players in 1948, later joining the Abbey Theatre company. She soon became recognised as a character actress of exceptional force and talent. Received Jacob's Television Award in 1964 for her performance as Winnie in Beckett's Happy Days. Won nationwide popularity as Mrs Kennedy in the Radio Éireann serial 'The Kennedys of Castleross'. She later played with the Royal Shakespeare Company, toured France and Canada, and appeared on television and in films.

Brother of Oscar nominated actor Dan O'Herlihy, Michael O'Herlihy was a major TV director in the US from the 1950s to the 1980s. His credits include Star Trek (1966), Maverick (1957), Gunsmoke (1955), M.A.S.H. (1972), Hawaii police d'état (1968), L'agence tous risques (1983) and Deux flics à Miami (1984) to name but a few.

He worked for Disney in the late 1960s and his feature film debut was for them in 1966 with Le prince Donegal (1966), a family classic.

Nominated for an Emmy in 1979 for his NBC miniseries Backstairs at the White House (1979), O'Herlihy, like his brother, never received the accolades in his home country that he did in the US.

Tom Clancy was born on 29 October 1923 in Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary, Ireland. He was an actor, known for Le Pirate des Caraïbes (1976), The House of God (1981) and The DuPont Show of the Month (1957). He died on 7 November 1990 in County Waterford, Ireland.

Peter Shaffer was born on 15 May 1926 in Liverpool, England, UK. He was a writer, known for Amadeus (1984), Equus (1977) and Sentimentalement vôtre (1972). He died on 6 June 2016 in County Cork, Ireland.

Denis O'Dea was born on 26 April 1905 in Dublin, Ireland. He was an actor, known for Huit heures de sursis (1947), Première désillusion (1948) and Esther et le Roi (1960). He was married to Siobhan McKenna. He died on 5 November 1978 in Dublin, Ireland.

Bronwyn Brigid FitzSimons's only child, a son, Conor Beau FitzSimons (also known as "C. Beau FitzSimons), an Irish-American hairdresser who has his own line of hair care products called "The Red Collection" (honoring his famous grandmother, Maureen O'Hara). Bronwyn was named after the character played by Anna Lee, her mother's co-star, in Qu'elle était verte ma vallée (1941). She adopted her mother's maiden name, FitzSimons, as her legal surname.

Maureen O'Hara helped get her daughter started in movies with her cameo in La montagne des neuf Spencer (1963), she showed great talent for a movie career and her mother encouraged her, but she soon dropped out of films to be a mother. Before motherhood, she made frequent appearances on television in such shows as Le Virginien (1962) and Sur le pont la marine (1962), and also had a part in The Ravagers (1965).

One of twelve children, Jackie Wright started out as a body builder in the car trade, even working for a time in America upholstering Cadillacs. After the Depression he drifted back to his native Belfast and travelled the country as a music-hall trombonist and supporting comic. By the 1960s, Jackie had drifted into television work as an extra on shows such as Z Cars (1962), and it was in that capacity that he was discovered by Benny Hill who first had him on as a supporting player on his last BBC shows in 1968, and then after Hill moved to Thames where Jackie was a constant recipient of head tappings from Benny. In addition, Wright also appeared with such comics as Dick Emery and Jim Davidson, and on Frankie Howerd's short-lived Whoops Baghdad! (1973) as well as in the movie Three for All (1975). After Benny's show made it to U.S. syndication in 1979, Jackie became a cult favorite in the States, to such an extent that a fan club sprung up in America and 'the little bald guy' received offers to star in his own show. But after 1983, ill health forced him to leave the show, although previously unaired footage of him in sketches filmed in previous years was incorporated into new Benny Hill shows up to 1985. Wright died in his home in Belfast in 1989 after a long illness, but his legacy as one of the most famous stooges in British TV will live on for years to come.

The distinctively white-haired, bushy-browed Northern Irish novelist, playwright and character actor, Joseph Tomelty was born the eldest of seven children in the small fishing village of Portaferry, County Down. He initially followed in his father's footsteps as a house painter. Early on, life on the stage might have seemed inconceivable because of a noticeable stutter. He thus began his working career employed as a painter at Belfast's Harland and Wolff Shipyards, also attending Belfast Technical College. After being inspired by a performance of "Juno and the Paycock" by the Abbey Theatre Company, he became involved with the St. Peter's Players in 1937, making his first mark on the stage. The following year, he wrote a comedic radio play ("Barnum is Right") and in 1940 became a founding member of the Belfast Group Theatre. While acting as the company's General Manager from 1942 to 1951, he later reflected that his tasks also routinely included those of "booking clerk, ticket collector, cloak room attendant, sweeper up, scene painter, programme seller, chucker out and actor" (Drama, March 1953).

In addition to eight plays (of which his "All Souls' Night", a play about greed, ambition and the effects of poverty, is regarded as a classic of Irish literature) and two novels, the versatile Tomelty wrote and acted in "The McCooey's", a weekly radio serial about working class life, broadcast by BBC Northern Ireland between 1948 and 1954. He also sidelined as a busy character actor in British and American films, including such prestige productions as Huit heures de sursis (1947), Chaussure à son pied (1954), Moby Dick (1956) and Atlantique, latitude 41° (1958). Tomelty's writing career came to an end after he sustained injuries in a car crash in England while filming La Croisée des destins (1956), though he continued to appear in occasional films until 1964 and remained a fixture in Northern Irish theatre.