Norton Wins Best Actor Tony

IRISH actor Jim Norton won the prestigious Tony Award for his Broadway performance in Conor McPherson's The Seafarer. Playing the role of Richard Harkin, the argumentative blind Irishman at the center of McPherson's supernatural fable, Norton delighted audiences and critics alike with his versatility and range.

Perhaps best known to American audiences for his unforgettable turn as Bishop Len Brennan in the hit Irish comedy series Father Ted, Norton took the coveted Best Featured Actor in a Play honor.

Norton's Tony Award caps a decade long association with McPherson, which began with Norton's acclaimed performance in McPherson's The Weir. Gifted with the most expressive speaking voice, Norton has been a fixture in McPherson's gallery of the luckless and the broken.

Since his initial collaboration 10 years ago the actor has appeared in five plays by the Irish playwright, winning London's Olivier Award last year for The Seafarer, in which he created the central part of a blind drunk (literally) who entertains a hapless group of Dublin poker players, including the Devil himself, on the night before Christmas.

On Monday Irish Arts Minister Martin Cullen congratulated Norton for his achievement, saying, "He is an actor of exceptional versatility and this prestigious award to him for his performance in this demanding central role in The Seafarer is warranted and well deserved."

For those who missed Norton in The Seafarer, which ended its Broadway run in March, he is still on the New York stage through June 22 giving a Beckettian performance in the role of Joe in McPherson's Port Authority at the Atlantic Theater Company, which co-stars Brian d'Arcy James and John Gallagher Junior.

Speaking about his many collaborations with McPherson and his Tony win on Sunday, Norton told the Irish Voice, "I saw This Lime Tree Bower at the Bush theatre in London, then shortly after my friend Brian Cox did a one man show of Conor's play St. Nicholas. It just blew me out of my seat and I thought, my God who has written this? So I knew his writing from having seen it previously.

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