John Molloy (actor)

John Richard Molloy (/d͡ʒɒn/; Irish: Eoin Ó Maolmhuaidh; 18 March 1929 – 02 September 1999) was an Irish playwright and character actor, celebrated in The Irish Times as "one of the most versatile actors of the Dublin stage in the 1960s and 1970s."

Molloy was best known for his starring role as Oliver Feeney in the RTÉ series Tolka Row (1964–1969), Ireland's first original primetime drama. He gained further recognition for his work on film, co-starring as Corny Kelleher in Joseph Strick’s Ulysses (1967), an adaptation of the James Joyce novel of the same name. He later found a creative home at the National Theatre of Ireland, where he appeared in over two dozen productions from 1970 to 1980.

Also accomplished dramatist, Molloy's plays and musicals were staged at the Abbey Theatre, the Gate Theatre, the Gaitey Theatre, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the San Francisco International Arts Festival, and elsewhere. Additionally, he wrote and starred in the musical revue Double Dublin, which played the Helen Hayes Theater on Broadway from 1963 to 1964. By his own account, throughout his life Molloy authored 40 theatrical revues, two musicals, numerous television and radio plays, and a best-selling memoir, Alive, Alive-O (Dolmen Press, 1975).