Tributes have been paid to the actor John Molloy, who has died in hospital in the United States. Mr Molloy, who was born in Dublin in 1929, was regarded as one of the most versatile actors of the Dublin stage in the 1960s and 1970s. Though known for his one-man shows and reviews, his most celebrated roles were as Matt Talbot in Talbot's Box by Thomas Kilroy and in the first production of Bernard Farrell's I Do Not Like Thee Doctor Fell, at the Abbey Theatre.
Joe Dowling, a former artistic director of the Abbey Theatre and now artistic director of the Guthrie Theater in Minnesota, said Molloy was one of the "rare genuinely funny men".
"The things he could do physically were amazing. I remember bringing him into the Abbey on one occasion to teach the actors how to do some of the physical gags for A Servant of Two Masters, and he was so funny that we kept him in the production."
Mr Farrell described him as a "quintessential Dubliner".
"He was in the first production of Fell in the Abbey, and I think the best one. He was playing opposite Liam Neeson. Some of the turns of phrase that he brought to the part I actually took away and incorporated into the play itself."
Fergus Linehan remembers "an absolutely magnificent review he got in the Sunday Times" for a show he performed in Edinburgh. "I remember a series of mimes he did based on painters. They were very good. And I remember he identified something like 21 different Dublin actors and performed them. He was a most talented man." Mr Farrell said his performance in Talbot's Box was "splendid".
Speaking from his home in Co Mayo, Mr Kilroy said Patrick Mason, director of the play, cast Molloy in the part of Matt Talbot.
"John was not a conventional actor, having had a long career in comedy and cabaret, so casting him was a startling choice. And he gave a startling performance. It was one of the most memorable things I have ever seen in theatre," he said.
"He brought identification to the part. He was quite emaciated and he looked a gaunt victim on stage. He became the part. By the end of the run it was very difficult to tell the art from the reality."
Mr Kilroy said he thought Molloy brought people into the theatre who might not otherwise have gone.
