Following on from the blog I just wrote about Irish actors, I just wanted to add something about “Belfast” actors.

In the 1970s, I used to regularly lunch in a  small restaurant in central Belfast…basically a “greasy spoon”. Every Thursday a group of rather loud elderly men had lunch together. They were members of Belfast’s acting “scene”. Their leader so to speak was Joseph Tomelty a playwright and character actor. Some twenty years before he had been involved in a car accident in Enland…..arguably his best performance was in the witness box. Or so it is said. His daughter Frances was once married to Sting, the English actor and musician. Joe Tomelty (he died in 1995) was an eccentric figure and as he left that greasy spoon every Thursday, he would raise his umbrella and shout “Taxi!”

He was a familiar figure in West Belfast. As was JG (Jimmy) Devlin (died 1991) who lived in Andersonstown and Elizabeth Begley (died 1995) who lived in the St James’ Road area. And a regular at Mass in St Johns. Strange coincidence that three contemporaies lived so close together.

Leaving aside theatre work of which I would have known little, Jimmy Devlin and Lily Begley were regulars on such 1960s and 1970s shows as “Z Cars”, “Dixon of Dock Green” and “The Sweeney”, inevitably playing petty criminals.

Although all three came thru amateur dramatics in West Belfast…my uncle was also involved, they were professiona actors at Belfast’s Group Theatre in occasionally politically sensitive plays……notably “Over The Bridge” by Sam Thompson. James Ellis….who would find fame as a regular in “Z Cars”. Ellis is now 80 years old.

Thats what gets me. All of these people were educated, sophisticated…….even bohemian people. And for the most part they have been condemned to playing parts far below their ability.