| Maureen Toal | |
| Birth Date: | 7 September 1930 |
| Birth Place: | Fairview, Dublin, Ireland |
| Death Place: | Dublin, Ireland |
| Occupation: | Actress |
Maureen Toal (7 September 1930 – 24 August 2012) was an Irish stage and television actress whose professional career lasted for more than sixty years.[1] [2]
She was born in 1930 and was originally from Fairview, Dublin.[2] Toal began performing at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1946, when she was just sixteen years old.[1] She became a fixture at the theatre, portraying Bessie Burgess in The Plough and the Stars and the Widow Quinn in The Playboy of the Western World.[1] She also appeared in several one woman shows, including Baglady, which was written by Irish playwright Frank McGuinness.[1]
Another playwright, John B. Keane, wrote the role of Mame Fadden in his play, The Change in Mame Fadden, specifically for Toal. Hugh Leonard also penned characters in his plays A life and Great Big Blonde with the intention of casting Toal in the parts.[1] Toal was best known to Irish television audiences for her role as Teasy McDaid on RTÉ One's Glenroe during the 1990s.[1]
The University College Dublin awarded Toal an honorary doctorate in literature in 2010.
In 1952, she married fellow Irish actor Milo O'Shea; they divorced in 1974 [3]
Maureen Toal died in her sleep at her home in Sandycove, Dublin, on 24 August 2012, two weeks before her 82nd birthday.[1] She was survived by her son, Colm O'Shea; two sisters, one brother, and three grandchildren.[2]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | Rooney | Kathleen O'Flynn | ||
| 1961 | Only the Wind | Mrs. Collins | ||
| 1962 | A Guy Called Caesar | Lena | ||
| 1963 | Maigret (TV series) | The Log of the Cap Fagnet - Adele Noirhomme | ||
| 1967 | Ulysses | Zoe Higgins | ||
| 1969 | Otley | Landlady | ||
| 1970 | Paddy | Clair Kearney | ||
| 1978 | On a Paving Stone Mounted | |||
| 1984 | Summer Lightning | Dolly St.Leger | ||
| 1996 | Snakes and Ladders | Rose |