Una O'Connor (actress)


Una O'Connor was an Irish-American actress who worked extensively in theatre before becoming a character actress in film and in television. She often portrayed comical wives, housekeepers and servants. In 2020, she was listed at number 19 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors.

Life and work

O'Connor was born to a Catholic nationalist family in Belfast, Ireland. Her mother died when she was two; her father was a landowner/ farmer, ensuring that the family always had income from family land. He soon left for Australia and McGlade was brought up by an aunt, studying at St Dominic's School, Belfast, convent schools and in Paris. Thinking she would pursue teaching, she enrolled in the South Kensington School of Art.
Before taking up teaching duties, she enrolled in the Abbey School of Acting. Her career with the Abbey was between 1912 - 1934 where she performed in many productions; these are listed in the Abbey Theatre Archives. She changed her name when she began her acting career with the Abbey Theatre. One of her earliest appearances was in George Bernard Shaw's The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet in which she played the part of a swaggering American ranch girl. The production played in Dublin as well as in New York, opening 20 November 1911 at the Maxine Elliott Theatre, marking O'Connor's American debut.
By 1913 she was based in London, where she appeared in The Magic Jug, The Starlight Express, and Paddy the Next Best Thing. In the early 1920s she appeared as a cockney maid in Plus Fours followed in 1924 by her portrayal of a cockney waitress in Frederick Lonsdale's The Fake. In a single paragraph review, an unnamed reviewer noted "Una O'Connor's low comedy hotel maid was effectively handled." The latter show also played in New York, opening 6 October 1924 at the Hudson Theatre. A review of the New York performances of The Fake recounts details of the plot, but then mentions
... two players of more than ordinary excellence. In the third act of The Fake occurs a scene between Una O'Connor and Godfrey Tearle, with Miss O'Connor as a waitress trying a crude sort of flirtation with Mr. Tearle. He does not respond at all and the longing, the pathos of this servant girl when she has exhausted her charms and receives no encouragement, is the very epitome of what careful character portrayal should be. Miss O'Connor is on the stage for only this single act, but in that short space of time she registers an indelible impression. Rightly, she scored one of the best hits of the performance.

These two plays in which she portrayed servants and waitresses appear to have portended her future career. Returning to London, she played in The Ring o' Bells, Autumn Fire, Distinguished Villa, and Quicksands of Youth. When Autumn Fire toured the U.S., opening first in Providence, Rhode Island, a critic wrote: "Una O'Connor, who plays Ellen Keegan, the poor drudge of a daughter, bitter against life and love, does fine work. Her excellence will undoubtedly win her the love of an American public."
She made her first appearance on film in Dark Red Roses, followed by Murder! directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and an uncredited part in To Oblige a Lady.
Despite her lengthy apprenticeship, she had not attracted much attention. British critic Eric Johns recalled meeting her in 1931 in which she confessed "I don't know what I'm going to do if I don't get work... The end of my savings is in sight and unless something happens soon, I'll not be able to pay the rent". Her luck changed when she was chosen by Noël Coward to appear in Cavalcade at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1933. Expressing surprise that Coward noticed her, Coward responded that he had watched her for years and wrote the part with her in mind. She portrayed an Edwardian servant who transforms herself into a self-made woman. When the curtain came down after a performance attended by Hollywood executives, they exclaimed to each other "We must have that Irish woman. That is obvious". Her success led her to reprise her role in the film version of Cavalcade, released in 1933, and with its success, O'Connor decided to remain in the United States.
Among O'Connor's most successful and best remembered roles are her comic performances in James Whale's The Invisible Man as the publican's wife, and in Bride of Frankenstein as the Baron's housekeeper. She also appeared in The Informer and The Plough and the Stars for director John Ford. Feeling homesick, in 1937 she returned to London for twelve months in the hope of finding a good part but found nothing that interested her. While in England she appeared in three live BBC Television productions, including a play by Irish playwright Teresa Deevy called In Search of Valour in which she played the part of Stasia Claremorris. After her return to America, the storage facility that housed her furniture and car was destroyed in one of The Blitz strikes, which she took as a sign to remain in America.
Her film career continued with roles in Michael Curtiz's The Adventures of Robin Hood and The Sea Hawk ; and in Leo McCarey's The Bells of St. Mary's. She also appeared in supporting roles in stage productions and achieved an outstanding success in the role of Janet McKenzie, the nearly deaf housemaid, in Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution at Henry Miller's Theatre on Broadway from 1954–56; she also appeared in the film version in 1957, directed by Billy Wilder. As one of the witnesses, in what was essentially a serious drama, O'Connor's character was intended to provide comic relief. It was her final film performance.
After a break from her initial forays in television, she took up the medium again by 1950. In 1952, she was able to state that she had been in 38 productions that year alone. In a rare article that she authored, O'Connor called working in television "the most exacting and nerve-racking experience that has ever come my way. It is an attempt to do two things at once, a combination of stage and screen techniques with the compensations of neither". Noting that many actors dislike television work, O'Connor said that she liked it because it allowed her to play many parts. She lamented that preparation for television work was too short a period for an actor to fully realize the depths of role characterization, but that it showed an actor's mettle by the enormous amount of work needed. "Acting talent alone is not enough for the job. It requires intense concentration, an alert-quickmindedness that can take changes in direction at the last minute". O'Connor concluded presciently: "It sounds fantastic and that is just exactly what it is, but it also an expanding field of employment that has come to stay. As such it is more than welcome here, where the living theatre seems determinedly headed the opposite way".
Reportedly she was "happily resigned" to being typecast as a servant. "There's no such thing as design in an acting career. You just go along with the tide. Nine times out of ten one successful part will set you in a rut from which only a miracle can pry you".
Her weak heart was detected as early as 1932, when her arrival in America began with detention at Ellis Island because of a "congenital heart condition". By the time of her appearance in the stage version of Witness for the Prosecution she had to stay in bed all day, emerging only to get to the theater and then leaving curtain calls early to return to her bed. Her appearance in the film version was intended to be her last.

Critical responses

Eric Johns described O'Connor as
... a frail little woman, with enormous eyes that reminded one of a hunted animal. She could move one to tears with the greatest of ease, and just as easily reduce an audience to helpless laughter in comedies of situation. She was mistress of the art of making bricks without straw. She could take a very small part, but out of the paltry lines at her disposal, create a real flesh-and-blood creature, with a complete and credible life of its own.

She admired John Galsworthy and claimed to have read all his works.
She once said "Acting is a gift from God. It is like a singer's voice. I might quite easily wake up one morning to find that it has been taken from me."

Personal life and death

She became a United States citizen on 3 March 1952. She died, having never married nor had children, in New York City from heart disease, aged 78, on 4 February 1959 at the Mary Manning Walsh Home. She had been living at the Windsor House at 100 West 58th Street in Manhattan.

Complete filmography

Dates are of the first performance.
Date TitleAuthorCityTheaterRole
1911-11-20The Playboy of the Western WorldJohn Millington SyngeNew York CityMaxine Elliott's TheatreIBDB.
1911-11-20The Well of the SaintsJohn Millington SyngeNew York CityMaxine Elliott's TheatreIBDB.
1911-12-15The Shewing-Up of Blanco PosnetGeorge Bernard ShawNew York CityMaxine Elliott's TheatreJessie
1912-02-12The Countess CathleenWilliam Butler YeatsDublinAbbey TheatreAngel
1912-02-16An Tincear agus an t-SidheogDouglas HydeDublinAbbey TheatreBean Og
1912-02-22The Land of Heart's DesireWilliam Butler YeatsDublinAbbey TheatreMaire Bruin
1912-02-29Spreading the NewsLady GregoryDublinAbbey TheatreMrs. Fallon
1912-10-03The Country DressmakerGeorge FitzmauriceDublinAbbey TheatreEllie Clohessy
1913-01-03The Dean of St. Patrick'sG. Sidney PaternosterDublinAbbey TheatreMistress Anne Long
1913-02-20HanneleGerhart HauptmannDublinAbbey TheatreSister Martha
1913-04-17The StrongerAugust Strindberg translated by Edith and Warner OlandDublinAbbey TheatreMdlle. Y
1913-04-17Broken FaithSuzanne R. Day and Geraldine CumminsDublinAbbey TheatreMrs. Gara
1913-06-28The Country DressmakerGeorge FitzmauriceLondonRoyal Court TheatreMin
1913-06-28The Magic GlassesGeorge FitzmauriceLondonRoyal Court TheatreAunt Jug
1915-12-29The Starlight ExpressAlgernon BlackwoodLondonKingsway TheatreGrannie
1916-01-18BauldyPatrick WilsonLondonRoyalty TheatreMartha Doyle
1916-02-25The Holy BondMonica EwerLondonNew TheatreMary
1917-12-16InsurrectionW. F. CaseyLondonCriterion TheatreNora O'Connell
1920-04-05Paddy the Next Best ThingGayer Mackay and Robert Ord LondonStrand TheatreMiss O'Hara
1923-01-17Plus FoursHorace Annesley Vachell and Harold SimpsonLondonHaymarket TheatreMrs. Plumbridgea
1923-12-26Paddy the Next Best ThingGayer Mackay and Robert Ord LondonSavoy TheatreMiss O'Hara
1924-03-13The FakeFrederick LonsdaleLondonApollo TheatreWaitress
1925-05-10By Right of ConquestMichael MortonLondonScala TheatreAnnie
1925-07-01The ShowJohn GalsworthyLondonSt Martin's TheatreCook
1925-07-01The Ring o' BellsNeil LyonsLondonComedy TheatreMiss Bibby
1926-01-20The Man Who Was ThursdayAda Elizabeth Chesterton and Ralph NealeLondonEveryman TheatreCook
1926-01-31Beyond the HorizonEugene O'NeillLondonRegent TheatreMrs. Atkins
1926-03-28The Rescue PartyPhyllis MorrisLondonRegent TheatreMaid
1926-04-13Autumn FireT. C. MurrayLondonLittle TheatreEllen Keegan
1926-05-02Distinguished VillaKate O'BrienLondonAldwych TheatreMabel Hemworth
1926-07-04Quicksands of YouthRoy JordanLondonScala TheatreMrs. Redmain
1927-07-18The VillageVere SullivanLondonGlobe TheatreMartha Smith
1927-09-11Chance AcquaintanceJohn Van DrutenLondonStrand TheatreMiss Cathcart
1927-09-24MasterMarjorie LingLondonArts TheatreMrs. Kerridge
1927-10-23Mr. SleemanHjalmar BergmanLondonArts TheatreMrs. Mina
1927-09-11Chance AcquaintanceJohn Van DrutenLondonCriterion TheatreMiss Cathcart
1927-11-14The Big DrumHarold HollandLondonAdelphi TheatreMrs. Jowett
1927-12-11TamaresqueClive CurrieLondonStrand TheatreMrs. Bonnett
1927-12-13The Soul of Nicholas SnydersJerome K. JeromeLondonEveryman TheatreDame Toelast
1928-02-06MacbethWilliam ShakespeareLondonRoyal Court TheatreThird Witch
1928-03-11Nicholas NicklebyH. Sims, adapted from Charles DickensLondonArts TheatreFanny Squeers
1928-03-25The WayLady Constance MallesonLondonArts TheatreGreta
1928-03-25Love in a VillageIsaac Bickerstaffe and Thomas ArneLondonLyric TheatreMrs. Deborah Woodcock
1928-07-01The Tragic MuseHubert GriffithLondonArts TheatreMme. Carré
1928-10-25BirthrightT. C. MurrayLondonArts TheatreMaura Morrissey
1928-11-05The Silver BoxJohn GalsworthyLondonEveryman TheatreMrs. Jones
1928-12-09Wrongs and RightsGordon WhiteheadLondonStrand TheatreFanny Hunt
1928-12-22The Passing of the Third Floor BackJerome K. JeromeLondonEveryman TheatreMiss Kite
1929-03-08The Pleasure GardenBeatrice MayorLondonEveryman TheatreClergyman's wife
1929-05-05After AllJohn Van DrutenLondonApollo TheatreMiss Minnister
1929-05-15Wrongs and RightsGordon WhiteheadLondonStrand TheatreFanny Hunt
1929-06-19ExiledJohn GalsworthyLondonWyndham's TheatreWoman
1929-10-11The Silver TassieSean O'CaseyLondonApollo TheatreMrs. Foran
1929-12-23The Passing of the Third Floor BackJerome K. JeromeLondonEveryman TheatreMiss Kite
1930-06-18Long ShadowsPhilip JohnsonLondonEveryman TheatreMrs. Dodd
1930-09-01The Far-Off HillsLennox RobinsonLondonEveryman TheatreEllen Nolan
1930-10-26ChassisAubrey EnsorLondonApollo TheatreBridget Maloney
1931-02-17EtienneGilbert WakefieldLondonSt James's TheatreCousin Valérie
1931-02-22Something StrangeFrank VosperLondonPhoenix TheatreMrs. Highley
1931-03-15The AccompliceFrank Popham-YoungLondonArts TheatreMercy
1931-03-15The Gaol GateLady GregoryLondonArts TheatreMary Cushin
1931-03-15Love at First Sight-LondonArts Theatre
1931-03-15The Perfect PlotAubrey EnsorLondonArts TheatreSara Allgood
1931-03-15Strange Adventure of a Maiden LadyRosalind WadeLondonArts TheatreMaiden Lady
1931-10-13CavalcadeNoel CowardLondonDrury Lane TheatreEllen Bridges
1931-10-25The Nag's HeadErnest GeorgeLondonArts TheatreBarmaid
1939-02-12The AppointmentReginald PurdellLondonVaudeville TheatreWoman
1945-09-24The Ryan GirlEdmund GouldingNew York CityPlymouth TheatreWeavy Hicks
1948-03-02The Linden TreeJ. B. PriestleyNew York CityMusic Box TheatreMrs. Cotton
1949-01-18The Shop at Sly CornerEdward PercyNew York CityBooth TheatreMrs. Catt
1950-01-18The Enchanted Jean GiraudouxNew York CityLyceum TheatreLeonide Mangebois
1954-01-13The Starcross StoryDiana MorganNew York CityRoyale TheatreEllen
1954-12-16Witness for the ProsecutionAgatha ChristieNew York CityHenry Miller's TheatreJanet Mackenzie

Television