Those We Lost: recent Irish-American passings

 

Roy E. Disney
1930-2009

Roy E. Disney, the nephew of company founder Walt Disney who helped to breathe new life into the brand, died at age 79 on December 16th of stomach cancer, in Newport Beach, California. He was the last member of the founding family to work at the entertainment conglomerate formed by his uncle and his father. Growing up as a test audience for films like Pinocchio, Disney began his career as an assistant film editor on the television show Dragnet before he joined the Disney company to work on nature documentaries in 1953.

He became known for his steadfast resolve to maintain the company’s originative principles and direction, leaving the company in 1977 and again in 2003 over disagreements with top executives. In 2005, Disney became director emeritus and a consultant and held both titles for the remainder of his life. He spent nine years on the Fantasia 2000 project, a sequel to the revolutionary 1942 film. Walt Disney had envisioned a sequel but died before he could complete it.

Roy Disney was also an achieved sailor, setting records for offshore yacht racing on the Pacific Ocean. He maintained a vacation home at a castle in Ireland, where his ancestors lived before emigrating to the U.S. He is survived by his wife, Leslie DeMeuse Disney, as well as his former wife of 52 years, Patricia Dailey Disney, and four of their children. Sixteen grandchildren also survive him.

Donal Donnelly
1931-2010

Irish actor Donal Donnelly, renowned for his work in Irish roles on the American stage and in film, died on January 4th in Chicago at age 78. His son Jonathan reported the cause of death as cancer. Donnelly was best known for his roles in plays by Brian Friel and in the John Huston film adaptation of James Joyce’s The Dead.

Donnelly was born in Bradford, England, where his father, James, of Northern Ireland, worked as a doctor. They moved to Dublin (his mother, Nora, was Irish) early in Donnelly’s childhood. He attended the Synge Street Christian Brothers School in Dublin, known for producing actors, and worked at the Gate Theater in Dublin in the beginning of his career. In the 1960s, Donnelly came to America and first gained his American audience in the 1965 British comedy The Knack . . . and How to Get It. In 1966, he earned a Tony Award nomination for his work in Brian Friel’s Philadelphia, Here I Come! on Broadway. From there Donnelly continued a string of well-received Broadway roles, and had small parts in high-profile movies and television shows.

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Nster.com