Sean Mulcahy appearing in In the Klondike, broadcast May 6, 1968.Roy Martin
Sean Mulcahy, who died in Toronto on Dec. 30, at the age of 91, was a successful actor and director, and the deeply committed artistic director of Edmonton's Citadel Theatre.
In 1971, the great Canadian theatre critic, Nathan Cohen, praised Mr. Mulcahy's "daring" choice of running two heavy dramas back to back there in the dead of winter.
An Edmonton Journal article about the Citadel Theatre's 50th anniversary described Mr. Mulcahy as "a peppery proselytizer who drove his MG into hinterland towns like Fort McMurray and Hinton, spreading the word about the theatre."
Mr. Cohen had recommended Mr. Mulcahy for the artistic director job, which he took on in 1968, when the theatre was just three years old.
"Sean established the Citadel Theatre as a major hub. He doubled the subscriptions and the theatre was packed every night," said Fay Barnes, with whom he had a long relationship.
Mr. Mulcahy was fired in 1972 for criticizing the theatre's leadership. At the time, he said it was because of "several irritating dissatisfactions I am undergoing with the theatre's administration."
Mr. Mulcahy was the artistic director at five other Canadian theatres, most of them in smaller cities, from Fredericton, where he was director of the Playhouse, to the Press Theatre in St. Catharines, Ont. He was co-artistic director of the Shaw Festival's first professional season. He also continued acting.
He was as fiery and passionate in real life as he was on stage. The Irish-born actor was outspoken in defending Canadian actors, arguing that theatres, TV shows and films produced in this country should use domestic talent rather than hire foreign stars.
"Sean disliked being called a nationalist as he felt it labelled him a xenophobe. He said it was a labour issue, defending the rights of Canadian actors to perform in Canada," said his wife, Catherine Vaneri, a fellow actor.
Sean Mulcahy was born in Bantry, County Cork, Ireland, on Sept. 5, 1926. The year of his birth is the subject of some dispute, as it appears he subtracted half a decade from his age when he arrived in Canada, perhaps to help his acting career.
Mr. Mulcahy was educated by the Christian Brothers in Cork. He fell in love with the theatre when his father took him to a play in Dublin.
He joined the Irish Army as a young man, but since Ireland was neutral in the Second World War, in 1944 he transferred to the British Army, as did many others from Ireland. He later switched to the Royal Air Force.
"As an Irishman, Sean may have disliked the British Empire, but he hated Adolf Hitler more," said his nephew Mark Mulcahy, from his office in Cheltenham, England.
Mr. Mulcahy served in Yemen and Egypt, and told people later in life that he had done a lot of amateur theatre in the RAF. He left in 1954 with the rank of flight lieutenant, the equivalent of captain in the army. Considering that he joined as a private, his military career was quite an achievement.
He married and raised a family, but the marriage broke up and Mr. Mulcahy came to Canada in 1957 to pursue his acting career. He became a success almost straight away. Along with working on stage, he made a steady living doing radio dramas for the CBC, then under the direction of Andrew Allan.
Film and television roles came early; in 1958, he was in three episodes of Cannonball, a Canadian adventure drama series about long-distance truckers. He was in a Quiet Day in Belfast, in 1974, where his Irish accent came in handy. Although he was not a "stage Irishman" (playing only Irish parts), he was in Bloomsday, a tribute to James Joyce's novel Ulysses, for many years, and in Mr. Joyce is Leaving Paris in 1994.
He also had a role in the Canadian TV series The Whiteoaks of Jalna in 1972, which was poorly received, through no fault of his.
An actor in Canada has to pick up work where he can, and Mr. Mulcahy acted in theatres across the country, often directing the plays he was in.
"The stage was the most important thing for Sean. He felt that was the base for an actor," Ms. Vaneri said. "The other jobs paid the mortgage and put bread on the table. He referred to film as galloping snapshots."
Almost as important as Mr. Mulcahy's acting career was his work with Canadian Actors Equity, which represents actors working in theatre, and ACTRA, the Association of Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, representing actors in radio, television, film and commercials.
In 1978, a newspaper article about "Canada's Theatre Jungle" described Mr. Mulcahy as "a provocateur in the councils of Canadian Actors' Equity [Association] and ACTRA … who speaks in the rotund locutions of his native Dublin, an actor of ego."
At that time, he was embroiled in a dispute over the use of British actors, including Maggie Smith, in Canadian productions onstage and on the CBC. Mr. Mulcahy didn't win all his battles – Ms. Smith triumphed in several productions at Stratford between 1976 and 1980 – but he certainly made his point.
"He was a fierce advocate for Canadian acting talent in productions. It was helpful having someone with his experience," said Karl Pruner, an actor who is ACTRA's communications director. Mr. Mulcahy was the organization's acting national president in 1979.
For 17 years, he also served on the board of the ACTRA Fraternal Benefit Society (AFBS), which manages RRSPs and insurance benefits for 17,000 Canadian actors and writers.
"Sean was a great orator, so if we were lobbying or negotiating, Sean's voice was always very strong," said his friend Peggy Mahon, a colleague at ACTRA and a governor of AFBS.
He also taught drama at several universities, including the University of Toronto, Ryerson and – for one season – in Banff.
Mr. Mulcahy leaves his wife, Catherine Vaneri; sisters, Sheila and Mary; sons, Timothy and Simon; and brother, Michael.