Joseph Tomelty

Joseph “Joe” Tomelty (5 March 1911 – 7 June 1995)^[1] was an Irish actor, playwright, novelist, short-story writer and theatre manager. He worked in film, television, radio and on the stage,^[2] starring in Sam Thompson's 1960 play Over the Bridge.

Joseph Tomelty
Born	(1911-03-05)5 March 1911 Portaferry, County Down, Ireland
Died	7 June 1995(1995-06-07) (aged 84) Belfast, Northern Ireland
Occupations	Actor playwright novelist manager short-story writer
Years active	1947–1964
Spouse	Lena Milligan ​ ​ (m. 1942)​
Children	2, including Frances Tomelty
Family	Joe Sumner (grandson)

Life and career

Born in Portaferry in 1911, he was the son of James Tomelty, a skilled fiddler who was nicknamed "Rollicking"; and the brother of Peter Tomelty, a tenor and recording artist.^[1] Tomelty's exposure to music at a young age influenced his work as a playwright, with several of his stage works being named after songs, including The Singing Bird (1948), Down the Heather Glen (1953) and The Drunken Sailor (1954).^[1]

Tomelty was a co-founder, in 1940, of the Group Theatre in Belfast, and served as its general manager until 1951.^[3]

He married Lena Milligan in 1942.^[4] They had two daughters together: Frances Tomelty is an actress and the first wife of singer and musician Sting; while Roma Tomelty (d. 22 April 2020) was also an actress.^[2]

Works

Plays

• Barnum Was Right (1939)
• Idolatry at Inishargie (1942)
• Poor Errand (1943)
• Right Again Barnum (1943)
• The End House (1944)
• All Souls' Night (1948)
• The Singing Bird (1948)
• Down the Heather Glen (1953)
• April in Assagh (1954)
• The Drunken Sailor (1954)
• Is the Priest at Home? (1954)
• A Year in Marlfield (1965)

Novels

• Red Is the Port Light (1948)
• The Apprentice (1953)

Radio

• Barnum Is Right (1938)
• Elopement (1939)
• The McCooeys (1948)

Complete filmography

• Odd Man Out (1947) - 'Gin' Jimmy, the cabbie
• Shark Island (1951) - Seán
• Treasure Hunt (1952) - Poacher
• The Sound Barrier (1952) - Will Sparks
• You're Only Young Twice (1952) - Dan McEntee
• The Gentle Gunman (1952) - Dr Brannigan
• The Gentle Maiden (1953 TV movie) - John Clarke
• The Oracle (1953) - Terry Roche
• Melba (1953) - Thomas Mitchell
• Meet Mr. Lucifer (1953) - Mr. Pedelty
• Hell Below Zero (1954) - Capt. McPhee
• Front Page Story (1954) - Dan
• Hobson's Choice (1954) - Jim Heeler
• Devil Girl from Mars (1954) - Prof. Arnold Hennessey
• Happy Ever After (1954) - Dooley
• The Young Lovers (1954) - Moffatt
• Simba (1955) - Dr. Hughes
• Bedevilled (1955) - Father Cunningham
• A Kid for Two Farthings (1955) - Vagrant
• John and Julie (1955) - Mr. Davidson
• Timeslip (1955) - Detective Inspector Cleary
• A Prize of Gold (1955) - Uncle Dan
• Moby Dick (1956) - Peter Coffin (voice dubbed by John Huston)
• A Night to Remember (1958) - Dr. William O'Loughlin
• Tread Softly Stranger (1958) - Joe Ryan
• The Captain's Table (1959) - Dalrymple
• Upstairs and Downstairs (1959) - Arthur Farringdon
• Next to No Wife (1959 TV movie) - Canon Fergus Brodie
• Life Is a Circus (1960) - Joe Winter
• Hell Is a City (1960) - Furnisher Steele
• The Day They Robbed the Bank of England (1960) - Cohoun
• Lancelot and Guinevere (1963) - Sir Kaye
• The Black Torment (1964) - Sir Giles Fordyke

The McCooeys

Tomelty's family-based radio sitcom The McCooeys was first broadcast on the BBC Home Service in Northern Ireland on 14 May 1949, becoming the region's most listened-to programme over the next six years. Centre Stage Theatre Company, co-founded by his daughter Roma and her husband Colin Carnegie, revived four of the episodes in a stage version, directed by Michael Quinn and performed in the refurbished Grand Opera House Studio Theatre in February 2022.