Jack MacGowran

Jack MacGowran, was a remarkable character actor of Irish descent known for his acting in plays of famous Samuel Beckett. Jack was born on 13th of October in 1918 in Ireland. He was a professional and Abbey Players member in Dublin. But, he shot to fame for essaying the characters of Beckett’s on stage. In the year of 1971, Jack won the Obie Award for assaying the Beckett character off-Broadway stage and was awarded for “Best Performance”. Jack appeared in “The Quiet Man”, a 1952 movie. He played the role of the right-hand man of Squires in John Ford's paean to Ireland.

This movie was his introduction to the world of cinema. In 1954, he moved to London and joined “The Shakespearean Company”. This company later added ‘Royal’ to its name after endorsement for Queen Elizabeth-II. It was here that Jack became friend with Peter O’Toole, a fellow Irishman. It was with Peter that a decade later, he co-starred in “Lord Jim”, a 1965 movie by Richard Brooks. In the city of New York Click to look into! >> Read More... , he worked in the adaptation of “The Shame of Mary Boyle”, a 1924 masterpiece by Sean O’Casey. He portrayed the character of Joxer in it’s Broadway Musical named “Juno”. His character was considered one of the greatest modern Irish drama roles of all times. Fittingly, he played a part in one of John Ford’s last film titled “Young Cassidy” in 1965 and played the role of Archie, O’Cassey’s brother.

The director John had to leave the film in between due to health issues. He played a lead character in only one film called “Wonderwall” in 1968. This movie was of MOD genre that dates back to the first cinema of silent screen. This film is mostly famous for the score of George Harrison. It was at this time that Jack had established a reputation of playing puckish and impish characters. He had great comic timings and was in demand for the comedy genre based roles. He worked in “Tom Jones” in 1963, a comedy that won the Oscar Award for Best Picture in 1963. And he also worked in “Start the Revolution Without Me” in 1970. He did work in the classical plays too like King Lear in 1971. In King Lear, he is fondly remembered for playing the role of “The Fool.”

It was considered Paul Scofield’s greatest 20th- century interpretation of King Lear portrayed in the film by Peter Brooks. Jack starred in “Endgame”, the very first Beckett’s London production. It was after this that he established himself as a character actor in motion films and got busy with his career. He worked twice with Roman Polanski, a director in his two films “Cul-De-Sac” in 1966 and “The Fearless Vampire Killers” in 1967. In Cul De Sac, Jack played a gangster in the movie. It impressed Polanski so much that in his next casting for “The Fearless Vampire Hunters”, he especially had a role made of a Vampire Hunter named Ambrosius for him. His last film “The Exorcist” in the year 1973 was a blockbuster.

The Exorcist was of Horror genre and Jack played the role of a film director who was doomed. It was the Flu Epidemic in London that Jack caught Influenza in 1973. It caused his death on 31st January 1972. That day, the film industry lost a great character actor and stage performer. He is survived by his daughter Tara MacGowran who is also an actor. He was only 54 years of age when he died.