Jump to content

Jimmy O'Dea

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Seamasmac (talk | contribs) at 16:43, 22 May 2008. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

James Augustine (Jimmy) O'Dea (1899 – January 7, 1965) was an Irish actor and comedian.

Jimmy O'Dea was born in Dublin and was educated at Blackrock College and Belvedere College[1], where one of his classmates was the future Taoiseach of Ireland, Seán Lemass. O'Dea went to Edinburgh, Scotland, where he qualified as an optician.

Following that he returned to Dublin where, in his spare time, he took part in amateur dramatics. In 1927 he took to the stage full time.

He formed a partnership with Harry O'Donovan. Together they created O'Dea's most famous character - 'Biddy Mulligan'. The character Biddy Mulligan is referenced in many Dublin music hall songs such as 'Biddy Mulligan the Pride of the Coombe', 'Daffy the Belle of the Coombe', and 'The Charladies' Ball'.

O'Dea had a successful career in pantomime and he toured Ireland and England many times. He made a small number of film appearances such as Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959) in which he played King Brian of the little people and Johnny Nobody (1961). His songs are still well known to this day, some of them having been sung and recorded by singer Frank Harte.

Jimmy O'Dea died at Dr Steevens' Hospital at the age of 65.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b The Irish Times, "Jimmy O'Dea dies after 40 years on the Irish stage", January 8, 1965
Stub icon 1 Stub icon2

This article about an Irish actor is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jimmy_O%27Dea&oldid=214221330"