Fred_O’Donovan_(actor)
フレッド・オドノヴァン（1884–1952）は、アイルランドの俳優、初期の映画製作者、劇場支配人、そしてテレビドラマ制作のパイオニアでした。長年にわたり、彼はJMシンジの「西の国のプレイボーイ」のタイトルキャラクターの決定的な描写、およびダブリンのアビーシアターでの他の著名な役割を果たしました。彼はしばらくの間修道院のマネージャーであり、第二次世界大戦の前後の両方でBBCの新進のテレビサービスのプロデューサー/ディレクターになる前に、映画、テレビ、および英国と海外の舞台に出演し、監督しました。
フレッドオドノヴァン1917年
コンテンツ
1 初期の人生とキャリア
2 シネマ 3 Managing 4 Moving On
5 Critical acclaim 6 Television 7 Personal life Postscript References
10 Sources and further reading
初期の人生とキャリア
彼は1884年にフレデリックジョージサンダースとしてダブリンで生まれました。彼の父は車体製造業者でした。彼はプロテスタントの教区中学校に通い、土地事務所でしばらく働いた。彼は1908年にアビー劇場の会社に加わり、すぐに「潮を逃した男」の主役に出演し、舞台名はフレッド・オドノヴァンになりました。
Blanco Posnet 1913
のキャスト
。オドノバンは右から2番目、 JMケリガンは極右です。
翌年、アビーの会社がロンドンのコートシアターに出演したとき、彼はWGフェイから西部世界のプレイボーイのタイトルロールを引き継ぎました。同じ年、検閲官が冒涜を理由にロンドンの劇場からバーナードショーを禁止したため、アビーはバーナードショーの一幕物であるブランコポスネットの一幕物を初演し、オドノバンはアメリカのカウボーイの主導的役割を果たしました。彼はよくそれが彼の好きな役割だと言った。
1911年、オドノバンは、会社が最初のアメリカツアーに着手したとき、再び西部世界のプレイボーイに出演していました。一部のアイルランド系アメリカ人は、アイルランドに対して無礼であるとしてこの劇に反対し、ボストンとニューヨークで抗議がありました。一部の暴動者が逮捕され、フィラデルフィアでは暴動者が逮捕されただけでなく、会社も公衆道徳を損なう可能性のある演劇を提示した罪で起訴されました。後で料金は取り下げられました。
ジェームズ・スレイターRHAによるロバート・エメットとしてのオドノヴァンの絵画（1915）
オドノヴァンは、アイルランドとイギリスの修道院の会社で、悲しみのデアドラ、キャスリーン伯爵夫人、救貧院病棟などの演劇に出演し続け、プレイボーイの復活に加えて、モーリス・ハート、ホワイトヘッド・ボーイ、ジョンで主導的な役割を果たしました。ブルのもう一方の島と人とスーパーマン。彼は、レノックス・ロビンソンの 『ドリーマーズ』で革命的なロバート・エメットを演じました。この部分の彼の油絵は、アビー劇場に飾られています。
シネマ
1916年、アイルランドにはたくさんの映画館がありましたが、（無声の）映画はほとんどすべてアメリカ人であるか、アイルランドを訪れたアメリカの企業によって作られました。アイルランドの映画会社はそれを変え始めました。オドノバン、JMケリガン、オドノバンの妻ノラクランシー、 やその他の俳優は、作品がステージでの出演に支障をきたさないという条件で、修道院から採用されました。同社の最初の作品は、オドノバンが悪役を演じるケリガン監督のラブストーリー、オニール・オブ・ザ・グレンでした。8月のダブリンでのオープニングでは、批評家や聴衆は自家製のコンテンツに喜んでいました。バイオスコープはコメントしました、
良いドローを証明することが期待されていたこの映画は、実際にはすべての期待を上回り、その週の記録が確立され、毎晩キューが支配的でした。
世論の反応に勇気づけられて、アイルランドの映画会社は、オドノバンらが登場する一連のコメディを作り始め、続いてドラマ「11時間」が続きました。翌年、ケリガンはアメリカに移住し、オドノヴァンが監督を引き受けた。最初はコメディーのラファティーズ・ライズで、彼は巡査の主役も務めた。次に彼は主演し、愛がギャビン・バークに来たときを監督した。アイルランドのライムライトは、オドノバン監督のフランク・リアによる漫画を含む、映画撮影で過ごした1日の詳細な説明を公開しました。同社の次のステップは、野心を大きく飛躍させることでした。19世紀のアイルランドの飢饉と土地の開墾の時代に設定されたチャールズキッカムの叙事詩小説であるノックナゴウの完全な適応です。 1873年。オドノヴァンは監督し、支援の役割を果たしました。CavanAnglo -Celtの評論家にコメントしました：
With a true appreciation of the artistic， the various degrees of tone have been lifted from the novel， and placed on the screen just as Kickham would have done it himself. The happy peasantry， the prowess of the youth at the hurling match， the hammer-throwing contest， the unexpected “”hunt””， the love scenes and the comedy – the life as it was before the agent of the absentee landlord came like a dark shadow on the scene， and with crowbar and torch， laid sweet Knocknagow in ruins – all were depicted by the very perfect actors who made up the cast.
Knocknagow scene 1918
Irish Limelight described the film as a “triumphant” commercial success and pointed up its popularity in the United States. The Dublin Evening Telegraph reported that it was shown for three weeks in Boston and “took more money than the much ‘boosted’ Birth of a Nation”.
Nearly all FCOI’s films have since been lost with the exception of Knocknagow， which can be seen on You Tube and at festivals. The Australian online journal Screening the Past has a special issue devoted to Knocknagow with a comprehensive selection of articles and links. O’Donovan made no more silent films and FCOI ceased operations in 1920.
Managing
The management of the Abbey Theatre has been in turmoil for much of its existence. W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory presided over the Abbey but found it a constant struggle to find the right person to handle the day-to-day workings of the theatre. In March 1917 they decided to ask O’Donovan to take over as manager. He accepted， and also proceeded to assume the directing of the plays， including the first performances of The Lost Leader， Blight and The Parnellite. Peter Kavanagh describes this period:
During his tenure as manager the public showed more active interest than ever before in the Abbey Theatre. There was even a profit to show， although a small one.
A notable event was O’Donovan’s bringing on to the company F.J. McCormick， who was to become one of the Abbey’s all-time great stars.
By late 1918 O’Donovan was thinking of moving on. He wanted more money， and was irritated by interference， specifically from Yeats’s newly-married wife Georgie who with no theatre experience would look on at rehearsals and go to Yeats with criticisms. In March 1919 O’Donovan resigned， and several of the longer-serving members of the company left with him. They toured together for a time， and then O’Donovan decided to move to England.
Moving On
Cartoon by Grace Plunkett of O’Donovan as Father Keegan in
John Bull’s Other Island.
Through the 1920s and 1930s O’Donovan appeared in， directed or produced over 80 plays in London. He also toured the British Isles and Southern Africa. In addition to the well-known Irish plays he took the opportunity of increasing his scope. O’Donovan played Aguecheek in Twelfth Night in 1922 and Lopahin in The Cherry Orchard in 1925， both in London. He was also Sir Lucius O’Trigger in The Rivals on BBC radio in 1935. He directed Donald Wolfit and appeared himself in The Moon in the Yellow River.The Times pointed to his portrayal of Father Keegan in Shaw’s John Bull’s Other Island as especially memorable. This was at the Court Theatre in 1921. St John Ervine’s Mixed Marriage deals with sectarian strife in Northern Ireland. The Manchester Guardian described O’Donovan’s performance as the labour leader John Rainey: “ has a commanding presence. There is about him a dreadful sincerity. Greatly played， as he is here， he is intolerance incarnate.”
Of O’Donovan as Joxer Daly in Juno and the Paycock in 1929， the same critic said: “His portrayal of the furtive sycophant is quintessential.””
Of his performance in And So To Bed， The Times commented， “His richness of voice and gesture and his sly fun as Samuel Pepys remain in the memory as something perfect of their kind.” In 1927 the New York impresario Lee Shubert engaged O’Donovan and an entire company， including O’Donovan’s (third) wife Joyce Chancellor， to take the boat to New York and stage the play there. However， after one week’s tryout in Connecticut Shubert decided to replace O’Donovan with an American actor and O’Donovan and Chancellor headed home.
He also worked in film. In Ourselves Alone， about the Irish independence struggle， he played a barman at a pub where the IRA kept its weapons. He had a brief part as a detective in Alfred Hitchcock’s Young and Innocent. Other films included The Vicar of Bray， The House of the Spaniard and General John Regan.
Critical acclaim
Cyril Cusack cited O’Donovan as one of “the greats”. Of a revival of the Playboy in 1925， the Manchester Guardian commented:
O’Donovan still reveals the exquisite marriage of realism and romance which the Abbey Theatre created. He can tell you of the hog in the ditch and the Lady Helen in Paradise with an equally persuasive tone. The audience is lifted， as it were， from the middens of County Mayo to the loftier slopes of Parnassus and hardly knows that it has been translated.
O’Donovan in
The House of the Spaniard 1936
From Ireland’s Abbey Theatre by Lennox Robinson:
Fred O’Donovan from the moment of his first appearance on the stage was an actor par excellence. I don’t mean to say that he didn’t improve and enrich himself， that he didn’t go from strength to strength， but he didn’t have to grope and stumble for a couple of years as so many players have to do. Barry had to grope and stumble and then suddenly shine out.
During the Abbey’s 1911 US tour O’Donovan was interviewed in his dressing room at Maxine Elliott’s Theatre by a journalist from the New York World. This was published under the headline “”Aim of Irish Players””. In this O’Donovan said，
We seek first of all to act truthfully. Simplicity and naturalness of acting are but a means to obtain that end. There must of course be selection of and emphasis in acting to make the essentials stand out with sufficient boldness to carry the dramatist’s thought into the mind of the audience， but we seek to use as little exaggeration as possible. There is a great danger to the actor in exaggerating， he will unintentionally heighten his exaggeration， for effect or for applause， until the essential truthfulness of his portrayal becomes lost.
Television
Alexandra Palace with the transmitter mast.
In 1936 the BBC launched the first high-definition television service in the world. It transmitted two hours of TV a day from Alexandra Palace， a Victorian exhibition hall in north London， to a range of about 25 miles around the capital. Drama was to be a major constituent of the programming. O’Donovan was cast in one of the first plays， The Workhouse Ward by Lady Gregory. The Times commented:
Here was a play finely acted and admirably suited to the television screen because of its intimate atmosphere. We were in the workhouse ward with the two old vagabonds and we could note every emotion fluttering across the features of Fred O’Donovan or Harry Hutchinson as they quarrelled deliciously together. It was the whole play， visual and aural， in a way that sound alone can never be.
Once the technology of sending pictures through the ether had been invented， a whole new expertise had to be devised: how to make television programs. The medium was quite different from motion pictures， and even more different from radio and live theatre. The pioneer program makers found themselves inventing their own profession as they went along.
Plays were especially difficult. Everything was live， as there was no video recording， so the filmmaker’s “cut and retake” was out. There could be several cameras， and the director could switch between them during the action， but in the early days this was rather slow because it had to be a “mix” from one shot to another since there was no way of switching instantaneously like a film cut.
So the directors had to work out in detail in advance how the set would be constructed in the studio， how the movement of the actors would be “blocked”， and how the cameras would move around to get the desired sequence of shots. All this had to be done with only two studios. The directors and the engineers often found themselves disagreeing over how something should be done.
Tony Quinn and Fred O’Donovan in
The Workhouse Ward 1936
In early 1938 the BBC hired O’Donovan as a drama producer， a job now termed “”director””， and he set rapidly to learn an entirely new job. His first broadcast was Sean O’Casey’s one-act comedy The End of the Beginning. His second was Yeats’s mystical verse play Deirdre. The Times wrote that it was “staged by Mr Fred O’Donovan in the style of an ancient saga come to life， beautiful to look at and to listen to， remote and not too strange.”
One of O’Donovan’s cast in Deirdre， playing the part of the Dark-faced Messenger， was Robert Adams， an actor from British Guiana， who soon after starred in The Emperor Jones by Eugene O’Neill， becoming the first black actor to play a leading dramatic role on the new medium of television.
Early on O’Donovan devised a scheme which Denis Johnston describes:
[O’Donovan would] build a house in the center of the studio， with double-sided doors and flats， and as his players moved with beautiful continuity from one room to another， the cameras would pick them up， each in turn， shooting from the outside in. Very nice indeed， until a camera started to act up， and you found that you couldn’t get another one into its place， because of all the scenery in the way.
In October 1938 The Times critic wrote:
Mr Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock was beautifully presented on the television screen for the first time last week by Mr Fred O’Donovan. Skilful use of the mobility of the cameras allowed shots to be taken of the adjoining room， and of the street door， and of the funeral procession passing by. The future of television seems to lie in extending the stage in this way， and emancipating the production from stage conventions.
BBC publicity shot of
Robert Adams in
The Emperor Jones 1938.
After a time O’Donovan came up with the idea of eliminating the mixing between cameras by using only one: dollying up and down from close-up to long shot， walking the actors in and out of vision when they happened to have a line coming， sometimes for as much as 10 or 15 minutes. Commenting on this “One Camera” technique Michael Barry said， “By reducing the mechanical complication to a minimum he obtained a smoothness and a serenity that became the O’Donovan hallmark upon the screen.”
O’Donovan himself told the Radio Times: “”Mind you， this means much more work at rehearsals and it is more exacting in that the cast have to be grouped to suit the camera position， but I do contend that this method makes for a smoother and sometimes more polished performance.””
Many more plays followed， including the much-anticipated The Fame of Grace Darling， about the Victorian heroine who， with her lighthousekeeper father， saved thirteen people from a shipwreck in 1838. The Observer described O’Donovan’s production of General John Regan as “the most laughter-provoking thing that television has yet given.”
With the start of World War II in September 1939 the television service was closed down， partly so enemy bombers could not radiolocate on the transmissions and partly for the engineers to work on radar. O’Donovan transferred to radio drama as an actor and producer， working on along with much else a selection from Tristram Shandy and the BBC’s first family serial， The Robinson Family. In 1944 he was given a leave of absence to appear in The Last of Summer in the West End， with Fay Compton， directed by John Gielgud.
Following the allied victory television started up again in 1946 and O’Donovan returned to Alexandra Palace. Asa Briggs describes continuing doubts and indeed suspicion among radio broadcasters about the value of television， nevertheless the service strove to grow， and by 1950 over 30 hours of programs a week were being transmitted and between 30% and 50% of the British population were within range. O’Donovan was nothing if not ambitious in his choice of plays to televise. Along with Eugene O’Neill’s Anna Christie and Shaw’s Candida came Sierra’s The Kingdom of God and Yeats’s perplexing The Player Queen. He made time to appear in a film Another Shore， directed by Charles Crichton.
In total O’Donovan directed 68 shows on BBC television， and acted in 25 more. None of his television work survives – it was all done before the invention of video recording. There would be a sample， were it not for one wrinkle. One of O’Donovan’s most notable productions was The Scarlet Pimpernel， in 1950. The Manchester Guardian said “The cramping limitations of television dissolved a little before Fred O’Donovan’s clever production.”” It was decided to preserve the piece and a film camera was set up in front of a monitor. The next day came an irate phone call from the movie mogul Sir Alexander Korda， who claimed to own the film rights for the story， and demanded that the BBC’s footage be destroyed. It was.
Drawing by John Butler Yeats， New York 1911
In 1951 O’Donovan began having health problems. The following year he was invited to Paris to demonstrate his one-camera technique and direct an adaptation of Rebecca. A few weeks after returning he entered hospital in Northwood for surgery on an obstructed intestine. He contracted pneumonia， and died on 19 July 1952， aged 68. He was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium and his ashes were scattered there.
Personal life
He was married three times， first in 1912 to Lilian Golding， who acted with the Abbey and in several films from FCOI as Nora Clancy. Later that decade O’Donovan started a liaison with Muriel Jameson， daughter of a Dublin journalist. The two were living in England when they had a son， Paul， who was born in 1920. Lilian/Nora sued for divorce， and O’Donovan and Jameson married in 1922. Muriel died of pulmonary tuberculosis in 1924， aged 25. In 1927 O’Donovan married the Irish actress Joyce Chancellor， with whom he had a daughter， Joyceann. Flying Officer Paul Saunders was killed in action with the RAF in World War II.
Postscript
Lennox Robinson tells how he was on a trip to London in 1931 when Hazel Lady Lavery invited him to a luncheon at which one of the guests would be the Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald. O’Donovan was in a play of Robinson’s in London at the time and on hearing about this he exclaimed that of all people in the world MacDonald was the one he wanted to meet. An invitation was forthcoming. What transpired between actor and statesman history does not relate.
References
^ Irish Genealogy ^ Who Was Who p. 1832 The birthdate and some other details given here by O’Donovan are inaccurate. ^ Who Was Who p. 1833 ^ Hunt 1979， p. 95 ^ Abbey Theatre Archive ^ Early Irish Cinema Mar. 1916 ^ Abbey Theatre Archive ^ Nora Clancy IMDB ^ Early Irish Cinema August 1916 ^ Irish Times 30 November 1916 p. 8 ^ Early Irish Cinema Dec. 1917 ^ Early Irish Cinema July 1918 ^ Early Irish Cinema April 1918 ^ Rockett 1988 p. 23 ^ Screening the Past Issue 33 ^ Wyver 2017 p. 9 ^ Hunt 1979 p. 113 passim ^ Abbey Theatre Archive ^ Kavanagh 1950 p. 112 ^ Hunt 1979 p. 116 ^ Gregory， Augusta Lady Lady Gregory’s Journals 1916-1930 ed. Lennox Robinson， Macmillan， New York， 1947 pp. 34-5 ^ Saddlemyer， Ann Becoming George Oxford， 2002 p. 202 ^ Wearing， J.P. The London Stage 1920-39， Scarecrow Press， 1990 ^ The Times 16 December 1922 ^ Who Was Who p. 1832 ^ Radio Times 5 April 1935 p. 18 ^ Theatricalia ^ The Times 22 July 1952 p. 8 ^ Manchester Guardian 9 May 1933， p. 13 ^ Manchester Guardian 3 Sept. 1929， p. 13 ^ The Times 22 July 1952 p. 8 ^ Joyce Chancellor IMDB ^ Who Was Who p. 423. ^ New York Times 20 Sept. 1927 p. 32 ^ New York Times 25 October 1927 p. 33 ^ Barr 2016 ^ Cusack， Cyril (1980) “”O’Casey and the Actor”” in The O’Casey Enigma ed. Micheal O hAodha， Mercier Press， Dublin， p. 36 ^ Manchester Guardian 13 Oct. 1925， p. 7 ^ Robinson 1951 p. 194 ^ Mikhail 1988 p. 101-3 “”Aim of Irish Players”” New York World 26 November 1911 p. 6 ^ Cain 1992 p. 33 ^ Wyver 2017 p. 10 ^ The Times 3 Jan. 1938 p. 19 ^ Johnston 1992 ^ Jacobs 2000 pp. 46-7 ^ Johnston 1992 ^ IMDB ^ The Times 23 May 1938 p. 8 ^ Johnston 1992 p. 101 ^ The Times 24 Oct. 1938 p. 8 ^ Radio Times 1 August 1952 p. 35 ^ Radio Times 4 July 1947 p. 29. ^ Wyver 2011 ^ Observer 20 November 1938 p. 13 ^ Cain 1992 p. 34 ^ Briggs 1985 p. 247 ^ Theatricalia ^ The new Head of Television， Maurice Gorham， and several other producers at the time were also Irish. Ariel， the BBC house magazine， commented wryly that shillelaghs were being brandished at meetings. Ariel BBC Christmas 1946 p. 17 ^ Briggs 1985 p. 245 passim ^ Cain 1992 p. 65 ^ IMDB ^ Radio Times 5 Dec. 1946 p. 36 ^ IMDB ^ IMDB ^ Manchester Guardian 13 Feb. 1950 p. 5 ^ Wyver 2017 p. 14 ^ Wyver 2017 p. 17 ^ The Times 22 July 1952 p. 8 ^ Slide， Anthony The Cinema and Ireland McFarland， Jefferson NC， 1988 p. 13 ^ UK National Archives ^ Commonwealth War Graves Commission ^ Robinson， Lennox Curtain Up， Michael Joseph Ltd.， London， 1942 p. 211
Sources and further reading
Who Was Who in the Theatre 1912-1976 (1978) Gale Research.
Hunt， Hugh (1979) The Abbey， Ireland’s National Theatre， 1904-1979. Gill & Macmillan， Dublin.
Robinson， Lennox (1951) Ireland’s Abbey Theatre， a history， 1899-1951 Sidgwick & Jackson， London
Kavanagh， Peter (1950) The Story of the Abbey Theatre Devin-Adair， New York.
Mikhail， E.H. ed. (1988) The Abbey Theatre: Interviews and Recollections. Macmillan
Barr， Charles (2016) “”Fred O’Donovan: not just Knocknagow””
Rockett， Kevin et al. (1988) Cinema and Ireland， Syracuse University Press.
Cain， John. (1992) The BBC: 70 Years of Broadcasting. BBC London.
Johnston， Denis (1992) “Is this an art or a toy?” in Orders and Desecrations. Lilliput Press.
Briggs， Asa (1985) The BBC – The First Fifty Years. Oxford
Wyver， John (2017) “”Exploring the Lost Television and Technique of Producer Fred O’Donovan””， Historical Journal of Film， Radio and Television， 37:1， 5-23， DOI:
Wyver， John (2011) “Introducing Fred O’Donovan”
Jacobs， Jason (2000) The Intimate Screen. Oxford”