Rynagh O’Grady

Although Rynagh O’Grady will be best remembered outside her native Ireland as one half of Father Ted’s perpetually bickering married shop owners, at home she was recognised as a versatile performer, playwright and director on stage and screen.

Born in Howth, County Dublin, she trained at the Abbey Theatre School and spent her early career in London where she was seen as Brecht’s St Joan of the Stockyards at the Half Moon (1974) before spending three years at the National Theatre.

Returning home, she was a regular on the Abbey’s main and studio stages, notable appearances including Donal O’Kelly’s Mamie Sighs (1990) and Deirdre Kinahan’s The Unmanageable Sisters (2018).

O’Grady also produced an award-winning 1992 documentary about theatre and TV director Chloe Gibson, and toured internationally with her solo show Voices in the Wind, accompanied by her musician husband Eamon Murray.

Among her film appearances were The Commitments (1991), Hollywood blockbuster Far and Away (1992), and William Trevor’s August Saturday (1990) on television.

An active member of Irish Equity, she was a former chair of Women in Film and TV Ireland and supported the Waking the Feminists campaign.

Rynagh O’Grady was born on April 18, 1951, and died on February 7, aged 69.