Biography
Donal Donnelly was an English actor renowned for his film roles in The Knack... and How to Get It (1965) and The Godfather Part III (1990), as well as for his stage performances in Brian Friel's plays. Born on July 6, 1931, in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, he was raised in Dublin, Ireland. In Dublin, he attended a Christian Brothers School, where he acted alongside classmates Jack MacGowran and Milo O'Shea. He later toured Ireland with Anew McMaster's repertory company.
Donnelly gained professional acclaim on stage in 1964, playing Gar Private in Friel's Philadelphia, Here I Come! (1974) at Dublin's Gate Theatre. He earned a Tony Award nomination when the production moved to Broadway in 1966, where it became a hit with 326 performances. In 1968, he replaced Albert Finney in the Broadway production of A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1972). Between 1969 and 1995, he appeared in nine more Broadway productions, including Sleuth (1972), The Elephant Man (1980), and Friel's The Mundy Scheme, Dancing at Lughnasa (1998), and Translations.
In 1965, Donnelly co-starred with Michael Crawford and Rita Tushingham in Richard Lester's film adaptation of Ann Jellicoe's hit play The Knack, which was successful. He portrayed the scheming Archbishop Gilday in The Godfather Part III, attempting to deceive Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), and delivered a critically acclaimed performance in John Huston's adaptation of James Joyce's short story The Dead (1987). He also appeared on British television, notably in Z Cars (1962) and the 1970s sitcom Yes, Honestly (1976).
Donal Donnelly passed away from cancer on January 4, 2010, in Chicago at the age of 78. He and his wife Patsy had two children.
