The Stage

Pauline Delany

Published Friday 23 February 2007 at 15:00 by Anthony Garvey

Dublin-born Pauline Delany, who has died aged 81 - just weeks after the death of her partner Gerry Simpson - was an accomplished stage, TV and film actress.

Delany was born on June 8, 1925. Her mother, a keen theatregoer, inspired her love of the stage, taking her on regular visits to the Abbey and the Gate. She learned her craft through evening classes at the Brendan Smith Academy in Dublin and later gave up her job as a trainee fashion buyer to tour with a production of Charlie’s Aunt, starring Leslie Phillips.

In the mid-fifties, she married actor Norman Rodway and they became members of the Globe company, together with Anna Manahan, Maureen Toal and Milo O’Shea, presenting new plays at a small Gas Company theatre in Dun Laoghaire. When financial problems forced the Globe to close, she helped form Gemini Productions and starred in its sixties Dublin Theatre Festival success, The Poker Session, by Hugh Leonard.

When the play transferred to London, Delany moved there. Her marriage to Rodway ended and she subsequently formed a relationship with Gerry Simpson, an Irish-born playwright, who died early last month. She was a familiar figure on the London stage, appearing in several productions, including The Hostage at the Royal Court, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg at the King’s Head and Cross Purpose at Hampstead Theatre.

TV plays included The Dead, Shadow of a Gunman, Stephen D and The Seagull, as well as roles in The Bill, Casualty and Rumpole of the Bailey. Among her film credits were The Quare Fellow, Brannigan, Rooney and Nothing but the Best.

Delany died on January 15 and is survived by her daughter, Sarah Simpson, and grandchildren.