Editing Hugh Leonard

{{Short description|Irish writer (1926–2009)}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Hugh Leonard
| image = Hugh Leonard, Playwright, 2004.jpg
| alt = 
| caption = Leonard c. 2004
| pseudonym = 
| birth_name = John Joseph Byrne
| birth_date = 9 November 1926
| birth_place = [[Dublin]], Ireland<!-- NO ROI in 1926 -->
| death_date = 12 February 2009 (aged 82)
| death_place = [[Dalkey]], Ireland
| occupation = Writer
| notableworks = ''The Au Pair Man''<br />''[[Da (play)|Da]]''<br />''[[A Life (play)|A Life]]''
| spouse = Paule Byrne (d. 2000)<br />Katharine Hayes
| children = 1
| relatives = 
| website = {{URL|hughleonardplaywright.com}}
}}
'''Hugh Leonard''' (9 November 1926 – 12 February 2009) was an Irish dramatist, television writer, and essayist. In a career that spanned 50 years, Leonard wrote nearly 30 full-length plays, 10 one-act plays, three volumes of essay, two autobiographies, three novels, numerous screenplays and teleplays, and a regular newspaper column.

==Life and career==
Leonard was born in Dublin as John Joseph Byrne, but was put up for adoption.  Raised in [[Dalkey]], an affluent suburb of Dublin, by Nicholas and Margaret Keyes, he changed his name to John Keyes Byrne.<ref name="irish-times-obituary">[http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/obituaries/2009/0214/1233867936921.html "Playwright with full mastery of his craft"], ''The Irish Times'', obituary section, 14 February 2009, retrieved 16 February 2009</ref><ref name="nyt">Weber, Bruce [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/theater/13leonard.html "Hugh Leonard, 82, Dies; Wrote Broadway’s ‘Da’"] ''[[The New York Times]]'' (12 February 2009)</ref> For the rest of his life, despite the pen name of "Hugh Leonard", which he later adopted and by which became well known, he invited close friends to call him "Jack".<ref>"Hugie Leonard" was the name of a character in an early play that was turned down by the Abbey Theatre, and Leonard used it on the submission of his next play as a ruse. Weber, Bruce [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/theater/13leonard.html "Hugh Leonard, 82, Dies; Wrote Broadway’s ‘Da’"], ''[[The New York Times]]'' (12 February 2009)</ref>

Leonard was educated at the Harold Boys' National School, Dalkey, and [[Presentation College, Glasthule]], winning a scholarship to the latter.<ref name="irish-times-obituary"/><ref name="telegraph-obituary">{{cite news | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/4604459/Hugh-Leonard.html | access-date = 16 February 2009 | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | title=Hugh Leonard | date=12 February 2009}}</ref> He worked as a civil servant for 14 years. During that time, he both acted in and wrote plays for community theatre groups.<ref name="irish-times-obituary"/><ref name="nyt"/><ref name="telegraph-obituary"/> His first play to be professionally produced was ''The Big Birthday'', which was mounted by the [[Abbey Theatre]] in Dublin in 1956.  His career with the Abbey Theatre<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.abbeytheatre.ie/archives/person_detail/11023|title=The Abbey Theatre Archive}}</ref> continued until 1994.  After that, his plays were produced regularly by Dublin's theatres.<ref name="nyt"/>

He moved to [[Manchester]] for a while, working for [[Granada Television]], before returning to Ireland in 1970, settling in Dalkey.<ref name="irish-times-obituary"/>

During the 1960s and 1970s, Leonard was the first major Irish writer to establish a reputation in television<ref name="Fintan O'Toole writing on the death of Hugh Leonard">{{cite news|last=Fintan|first=O'Toole|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=13 February 2009}}</ref> writing extensively for television, including original plays, comedies, thrillers, and adaptations of classic novels for British television.  He was commissioned by RTÉ to write ''Insurrection'', a 50th-anniversary dramatic reconstruction of the Irish uprising of Easter 1916.<ref name=rte-death-announced /> Leonard's Silent Song, adapted for the BBC from a short story by Frank O'Connor, won the Prix Italia in 1967.<ref name="Prix Italia Winners">{{cite web|title=Prix Italia Winners |url=http://www.prixitalia.rai.it/2010/pdf/WINNERS_1949-2010.pdf |access-date=21 January 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022124024/http://www.prixitalia.rai.it/2010/pdf/WINNERS_1949-2010.pdf |archive-date=22 October 2013 }}</ref> He wrote the script for the [[RTÉ]] adaptation of ''[[Strumpet City]]'' by [[James Plunkett]].<ref name="rte-death-announced">[http://www.rte.ie/arts/2009/0212/leonardh.html Death of Hugh Leonard announced], [[RTÉ News and Current Affairs|RTÉ News]], 12 February 2009, retrieved 12 February 2009</ref>

Three of Leonard's plays have been presented on Broadway: ''The Au Pair Man'' (1973), which starred [[Charles Durning]] and [[Julie Harris (American actress)|Julie Harris]]; ''[[Da (play)|Da]]'' (1978); and ''[[A Life (play)|A Life]]'' (1980).<ref>{{IBDB name|6394}}</ref> Of these, ''Da'' &ndash; which premiered<ref>{{Cite news|last=Coe|first=Richard|date=9 August 1973|title='Da': World Premiere|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/148357040|access-date=4 January 2021|id={{ProQuest|148357040}}}}</ref> at the [[Olney Theatre Center|Olney Theatre]] in 1973 before being produced off-off-Broadway at the [[Hudson Guild|Hudson Guild Theatre]] and then transferring to the [[Morosco Theatre]] &ndash; was the most successful, running for 20 months and 697 performances, then touring the United States for 10 months.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/4057 |title=''Da'' |publisher=[[Internet Broadway Database]] }}</ref> It earned Leonard both a [[Tony Award]] and a [[Drama Desk Award]] for Best Play.<ref>IBDB [http://ibdb.com/awardproduction.asp?id=4057 Da:Awards]</ref> It was [[Da (film)|made into a film]] in 1988, starring [[Martin Sheen]] and [[Barnard Hughes]], who reprised his Tony Award-winning Broadway performance.<ref>{{IMDb name|0094934|Da}}</ref>

In 1984, Leonard discovered his accountant Russell Murphy had embezzled [[Irish pound|IR£]]258,000 from him.<ref name="irish-times-obituary"/><ref name="telegraph-obituary"/> Leonard was particularly upset that Murphy had used his money to take clients to the theatre and purchased expensive seats at some of Leonard's plays.<ref name="telegraph-obituary"/>

Leonard wrote two volumes of autobiography, ''Home Before Night'' (1979) and ''Out After Dark'' (1989).<ref name="irish-times-obituary"/> Some of his essays and journalism were collected in ''Leonard's Last Book'' (1978) and ''A Peculiar People and Other Foibles'' (1979).  In 1992 the ''Selected Plays of Hugh Leonard'' was published.  Until 2006 he wrote a humorous weekly column, "The Curmudgeon", for the Irish ''[[Sunday Independent (Ireland)|Sunday Independent]]'' newspaper.  He had a passion for cats and restaurants, and an abhorrence of broadcaster [[Gay Byrne]].<ref name="name1">''Sunday Independent'', "Portrait of the legendary artist as an 80-year-old", 12 November 2006</ref>

In 1994, Leonard gave a review of ''Katie Roche''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://deevy.nuim.ie/items/show/478 |title=The Teresa Deevy Archive }}{{dead link|date=June 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>' by Irish playwright [[Teresa Deevy]] which was performed in the [[Peacock Theatre, Dublin|Peacock Theatre]], and he recalls his own acting role in an undated amateur production of 'Temporal Powers' which [[Teresa Deevy]] attended.

Even after retiring as a ''Sunday Independent'' columnist, Leonard displayed an acerbic humour. In an interview with [[Brendan O'Connor (journalist)|Brendan O'Connor]], he was asked if it galled him that Gay Byrne was now writing his old column.  His reply was, "It would gall me more if he was any good at it."<ref name="name1"/> Leonard was a patron of the Dublin Theatre Festival.

In 1994, Leonard appeared in a televised interview with [[Gerry Adams]], president of [[Sinn Féin]], an Irish political party associated with the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]].<ref name=latelate>http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//UTV/1994/10/28/UTV19941028005/?s=rte Gerry Adams on the Late Late Show With Gay Byrne</ref> Leonard had long been an opponent of paramilitary groups and a critic of the IRA.<ref name="irish-times-obituary"/> However, on the show and afterwards he was criticised for being "sanctimonious and theatrical" towards Adams; at one point he referred to Sinn Féin as "dogs".<ref>{{YouTube|oMjcqMUhrjI}}</ref><ref>{{YouTube|egom6-LIxdM}}</ref><ref>{{YouTube|2wNtuKuZrGs}}</ref>

''Hugh Leonard- Odd Man In'', a film on his life and work, shown on RTÉ in March 2009.  Leonard's final play, ''Magicality,'' was not performed during his lifetime; a rehearsed reading of the second act was staged at the [[Dalkey Castle|Dalkey Castle and Heritage Centre]] in June 2012.<ref>98FM [https://archive.today/20130116082641/http://98fm.com/2012/dubfiles/dalkey-castle/] retrieved 24 November 2012</ref>

Leonard died in his hometown, Dalkey, aged 82, after a long illness,<ref name=BBC>{{cite news | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7887430.stm | publisher=BBC News | title=Irish dramatist Hugh Leonard dies | date=12 February 2009}}</ref> leaving €1.5 million in his will.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/playwright-hugh-leonard-leaves-836415m-estate-1910433.html | work=Irish Independent | first=Liam | last=Collins | title=Playwright Hugh Leonard leaves €1.5m estate | date=11 October 2009}}</ref>

==Awards==
*Writers Guild of Great Britain – Award of Merit for ''Silent Song'', 1966
*Prix Italia for original dramatic television programs – for ''Silent Song'' 1967
*Jacob's Television Award for adaptations of ''Wuthering Heights'' and ''Nicholas Nickleby'', 1969
*Antoinette Perry Award (Tony) nomination for best play – ''The Au Pair Man'', 1973/74
*Antoinette Perry Award (Tony) award for best play – ''Da'', 1977/78
*Drama Desk Award for outstanding new play – ''Da'', 1977/78
*New York Drama Critics Circle Award for the best play – ''Da'', 1977/78
*Outer Critics Circle Award for the Most Outstanding Play of the New York Season – ''Da'', 1977/78
*Harvey's Irish Theatre Award for A Life – best new play, 1979/80
*Rhode Island College – honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, 1980
*University of Dublin – honorary Doctorate of Letters, 1988
*Society of Authors Sagittarius Prize – novel for ''Parnell and the Englishwoman'', 1992
*The Abbey Theatre Award, 1999

'''<small>Source:<ref name="Hugh Leonard Playwright, Awards">{{cite web|title=Awards and honorary degrees of Hugh Leonard|date=16 February 2013|url=http://hughleonardplaywright.com/about/awards-and-honorary-degrees/|access-date=17 March 2013}}</ref></small>'''

==Works==
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'''Plays'''<ref>Playography Ireland entry for Hugh Leonard [http://www.irishplayography.com/person.aspx?personid=2225] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130913063400/http://www.irishplayography.com/person.aspx?personid=2225 |date=13 September 2013 }}, retrieved 11 November 2012</ref><ref>[http://www.theagency.co.uk/clients/clientdisplay.html?viewListing=MjEz The Agency (London) Ltd Client List] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403112216/http://www.theagency.co.uk/clients/clientdisplay.html?viewListing=MjEz |date=3 April 2015 }}</ref>
*''The Italian Road'' (1954)
*''The Big Birthday'' (1956)<ref>Filmed as ''Broth of a Boy'' (1959)</ref>
*''A Leap in the Dark'' (1957)
*''Madigan's Lock'' (1958)
*''A Walk on the Water'' (1960)
*''The Passion of Peter Ginty'' (1961)
*''Stephen D''<ref>An adaptation of ''[[A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man]]'' and ''[[Stephen Hero]]'', by [[James Joyce]]</ref> (1962)
*''Dublin One'' (1963)
*''The Poker Session'' (1964)
*''The Family Way'' (1964)
*''The Saints Go Cycling In''<ref>An adaptation of ''[[The Dalkey Archive]]''  by [[Flann O'Brien]]</ref> (1965)
*''Mick and Mick'' (1966)
*''The Quick and the Dead (''two one-act plays) (1967)
**"The Late Arrival of the Incoming Aircraft"
**"The Dead"
*''The Au Pair Man'' (1968)
*''The Barracks'' (1969)
*''The Patrick Pearse Motel'' (1971)
*''[[Da (play)|Da]]'' (1973)
*''[[Summer (play)]]'' (1974)
*''Suburb of Babylon'' (three one-act plays) (1983) &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
**"A Time of Wolves and Tigers"
**"Nothing Personal"
**"The Last of the Last of the Mohicans"
*''Time Was'' (1976)
*''Some of My Best Friends Are Husbands'' (1976)
*''Liam Liar'' (1976)
*''[[A Life (play)]]'' (1979)
*''Kill'' (1982)
*''The Mask of Moriarty'' (1985)
*''Pizazz:'' (three one-act plays) (1986)
**"A View from the Obelisk"
**"Roman Fever"
**"Pizazz"
*''[[Moving (play)]]'' (1992)
*''Chamber Music'' (two one-act plays) (1994)
**Senna for Sonny
**The Lily Lally Show
*''Great Expectations'' (1995)
*''A Tale of Two Cities'' (1996)
*''Love in the Title'' (1999)
*''Magicality''
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'''Novels'''<ref>[http://www.methuen.co.uk A Wild People and Fillums published by Methuen]</ref>
*''Parnell and the Englishwoman'' (1992)
*''A Wild People'' (2001)
*''Fillums'' (2004)

'''Essays'''<ref>{{cite web|title=Prose work of Hugh Leonard|date=13 February 2014|url=http://hughleonardplaywright.com/the-prose-work-of-hugh-leonard/|access-date=13 February 2014}}</ref>

*''Leonard's Last Book'' (1978)
*''A Peculiar People and Other Foibles'' (1979)
*''Leonard's Year'' (1985)
*''Leonard's Log'' (1987)
*''Leonard's Log – Again'' (1988)
*''Rover and Other Cats'' (1992)
*''Dear Paule'' (2000)

'''Autobiography'''
*''Home Before Night'' (1979)
*''Out After Dark'' (1989)

'''Film screenplays'''<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0502643/ IMDb entry for Hugh Leonard]</ref>
*''[[Interlude (1968 film)|Interlude]]'' (1968)
*''[[Great Catherine (film)|Great Catherine]]'' (1968)
*''[[Percy (1971 film)|Percy]]'' (1971)
*''[[Our Miss Fred]]'' (1972)
*''[[Da (film)|Da]]'' (1988)
*''[[Widows' Peak]]'' (1994)

'''Radio plays'''<ref>[http://www.rte.ie/about/en/press-office/press-releases/2009/0213/292596-130209hughleonardrip/ RTE statement on death of Hugh Leonard, retrieved 6 January 2013]</ref>
*''You and the Night and the Wireless'' (2001)
*''Mogs'' (2006)

[[File:Da Broadway photo.gif|thumb|left|187px|The Broadway production of<br />''[[Da (play)|Da]]'' (1978) starred [[Barnard Hughes]] (foreground) and [[Brian Murray (actor)|Brian Murray]]]]
{{col-end}}

== Reviews ==
* Those crazy cat days in their cradle (1994)
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'''Television plays'''
*I''TV Television Playhouse''
**"A Walk on the Water "(1961)
*''Armchair Theatre''
**"The Irish Boys" (1962)
**"A Kind of Kingdom" (1963)
**"I Loved You Last Summer" (1965)
**"The Big Blonde" (1966)
**"Love Life" (1967)
**"The Virgins" (1974)
*''ITV Play of the Week''
**"A Leap in the Dark" (1960)
**"Misalliance" (adaptation) (1962)
**"The Rose Tattoo" (adaptation) (1964)
**"Camino Real "(adaptation) (1964)
** "[[Come Back, Little Sheba (play)|Come Back, Little Sheba]]" (adaptation) (1965)
*''First Night''
**"My One True Love" (1964)
**"The Second Wall" (1964)
*''Love Story''
**"The Last of the English Visitors" (1964)
**"Toccato for Toy Trumpet" (1965)
**"The Egg on the Face of the Tiger" (1968)
*''Thirty-Minute Theatre''
**"The Late Arrival of the Incoming Aircraft" (1965)
**"A Time of Wolves and Tigers" (1967)
*''The Wednesday Play''
**"Silent Song" (1966)
**"The Retreat" (1966)
*''Insurrection'' (1966)
*''Half Hour Story''
**"Do You Play Requests?" (1968)
**"A View from the Obelisk" (1968)
*''Comedy Playhouse''
**"[[Me Mammy]]" (1968)
*''ITV Saturday Night Theatre''
**"The Dead" (adaptation) (1971)
** "Pandora" (1971)
*''[[Play of the Month]]''
**"Stephen D" (adaptation) (1972)

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'''Episodic television'''
*''[[Saki (TV series)|Saki]]'': 8 episodes (adaptations) (1962)
*''The Verdict is Yours:'' 1 episode (1963)
*''Maupassant:'' 10 episodes (adaptations) (1963)
*''Jezebel ex UK:'' 1 episode (1963)
*''The Hidden Truth'': 2 episode2 (1964)
*''Blackmail'': 1 episode (1965)
*''Undermind'': 1 episode (1965)
*''Thirteen Against Fate'': 1 episode (1966)
*''Public Eye'': 2 episodes (1966)
*''The Informer'': 2 episodes (1966)
*''[[Out of the Unknown]]'': 2 episodes (1966)
*''[[Great Expectations (1967 TV series)|Great Expectations]]'': 10 episodes (adaptations) (1967)
*''[[Wuthering Heights (1967 TV series)|Wuthering Heights]]:'' 4 episodes (adaptations) (1967)
*''Liebesgeschichten'': 1 episode (1967)
*''The Ronnie Barker Playhouse'': 1 episode (1968)
*''[[Nicholas Nickleby (1968 TV series)|Nicholas Nickleby]]'': 13 episodes (adaptations) (1968)
*''Late Night Horror'': 1 episode (1968)
*''[[Sherlock Holmes (1965 TV series)|Sherlock Holmes]]'': 3 episodes (1968)
*''[[The Jazz Age]]'': 1 episode (adaptation) (1968)
*''Detective'': 2 episodes (1968–1969)
*''The Possessed:'' 6 episodes (adaptations) (1969)
*''[[Dombey and Son]]'': 13 episodes (adaptations) (1969)
*''[[W. Somerset Maugham]]'': 2 episodes (adaptations) (1969–1970)
*''[[Me Mammy]]'' 3 series, 21 episodes (1969–1971)
*''[[Sentimental Education]]'': 3 episodes (adaptations) (1970)
*''Shadows of Fear:'' 1 episode (1971)
*''Six Dates with Barker'': 1 episode (1971)
*''[[The Moonstone (1972 TV series)|The Moonstone]]'': 5 episodes (1972)
*''Tales from the Lazy Acre'': 7 episodes (1972)
*''Country Matters'': 4 episodes (adaptations) (1972–1973)
*''Seven of One'': 1 episode (1973)
*''Black and Blue'': 1 episode (1973)
*''[[Father Brown (1974 TV series)|Father Brown]]'': 6 episodes (adaptations) (1974)
*''[[Nicholas Nickleby (1977 TV series)|Nicholas Nickleby]]'': 6 episodes (1977)
*''London Belongs to Me'': 7 episodes (1977)
*''[[Wuthering Heights (1978 film)|Wuthering Heights]]'': 2 episodes (1978)
*''Strumpet City'' (adaptation) (1980)
*''The Little World of Don Camillo'': 12 episodes (1981)*''Good Behaviour'' (adaptation) (1983)
*''Storyboard'': 1 episode (1989)
*''Parnell & the Englishwoman'' (1991) TV mini-series
*''Alleyn Mysteries'': 1 episode (1993)
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==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041015073723/http://www.irishwriters-online.com/hughleonard.html Hugh Leonard at Irish Writers Online]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071118032040/http://www.irishplayography.com/search/person.asp?PersonID=2225 Hugh Leonard at Irish Playography]
* {{IBDB name}}
* {{IMDb name|0502643}}
* Hugh Leonard at the [http://deevy.nuim.ie/ Teresa Deevy Archive]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leonard, Hugh}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2009 deaths]]
[[Category:Abbey Theatre]]
[[Category:Irish adoptees]]
[[Category:Disease-related deaths in the Republic of Ireland]]
[[Category:Irish columnists]]
[[Category:Irish male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Jacob's Award winners]]
[[Category:People from Dalkey]]
[[Category:Sunday Independent (Ireland) people]]
[[Category:20th-century Irish dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century Irish male writers]]