Joe Lynch (actor)

Joseph Laurence Lynch (16 July 1926 – 1 August 2001) was an Irish actor who had a long career in both comedy and drama. He provided voice work for children's animated series, in particular Chorlton and the Wheelies.

Joe Lynch
Born
Joseph Laurence Lynch

(1926-07-16)16 July 1926[1][2]
Mallow, County Cork, Ireland
Died1 August 2001(2001-08-01) (aged 75)
Alicante, Spain
Occupation(s)Actor, singer, songwriter
Years active1959–2000
SpouseMarie Nutty

Lynch was also a singer and songwriter, performing in the film Johnny Nobody (1961). He also recorded work by other songwriters, including Leo Maguire's "The Whistling Gypsy" and Dick Farrelly's "Cottage by the Lee", one of his biggest 1950s recordings.

Early life

Born in Mallow in County Cork, Lynch attended the North Monastery Christian Brothers School. He had a number of other jobs before moving into acting and broadcasting full time.[3]

Career

Initially acting part-time with the Cork Shakespearean Company and at the Cork Opera House, by 1947 Lynch was acting full-time.[4]

He was a founding member of the Radio Éireann Players and appeared in productions of Teresa Deevy[5] plays among others. Between 1967–81, he acted onstage with the Abbey Theatre.[6] During the 1950s he was responsible for a Radio Éireann show Living with Lynch, broadcast on Sunday nights — the first comedy series on Radio Éireann.[7]

Lynch appeared in the popular ABC/Thames Television sitcom Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width (1968–70), and its spin-off feature film in 1973. Other notable film roles included The Siege of Sidney Street (1960), The Running Man (1963), Girl with Green Eyes (1964), The Face of Fu Manchu (1965), Ulysses (1967), Loot (1970), The Mackintosh Man (1973), The Outsider (1980), If You Go Down in the Woods Today (1981) and Eat the Peach (1986). In the 1970s, Lynch made regular guest appearances as Elsie Tanner's boyfriend in the long-running Granada TV soap Coronation Street.

In 1962, and again in 1977, Lynch won a Jacob's Award for his acting on RTÉ television.[8]

By 1979, Lynch was back in Ireland, and made his first appearances as Dinny Byrne in the RTÉ soap Bracken. Later the Byrne character would feature in the long-running RTÉ soap Glenroe.[8]

Lynch quit Glenroe after he claimed to have been "shamefully treated" and offered "small potatoes" when he asked for a pay rise. He was also upset that he was not to get a pension. RTÉ disputed those claims.[9] Lynch criticised RTÉ for preventing him from doing other acting work alongside Glenroe. "I was terrible restricted in RTÉ, they wouldn't let me off for anything, even commercials."[10]

Lynch voiced the main antagonist, "Grundel the Toad", in the Don Bluth film Thumbelina, his final audio work before his death seven years later.[11]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Director Notes
1960 The Night Fighters Seamus Tay Garnett
1960 The Siege of Sidney Street Sgt. Todd Robert S. Baker
Monty Berman
1961 Johnny Nobody Tinker Nigel Patrick
1963 The List of Adrian Messenger Cyclist John Huston Uncredited
1963 The Running Man Roy Tanner Carol Reed
1964 Girl with Green Eyes Andy Devlin Desmond Davis
1965 Young Cassidy 1st Hurler Jack Cardiff
John Ford
1965 The Face of Fu Manchu Custodian Don Sharp
1967 Ulysses Blazes Boylan Joseph Strick
1967 Robbery Lorry driver Peter Yates Uncredited
1969 The Best House in London Policeman Philip Saville Uncredited
1970 Loot Father O'Shaughnessy Silvio Narizzano
1973 Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width Patrick Brendan Kevin Aloysius Kelly Ronnie Baxter
1973 The MacKintosh Man 1st Garda John Huston
1976 Never Too Young to Rock Russian Soldier Dennis Abey
1979 The Saint and the Brave Goose Capt. Finnigan Cyril Frankel
1979 The Outsider Sean Thompson Tony Luraschi
1981 If You Go Down in the Woods Today Shepherd Eric Sykes
1986 Eat the Peach Boss Murtagh Peter Ormrod
1994 Thumbelina Grundel Don Bluth
Gary Goldman		 Voice

Television
Year Title Role Notes
1958 Theatre Night Christopher Mahon Episode: "The Heart's a Wonder"
1959 The Anne Shelton Show 4 episodes
1964 No Hiding Place Paddy Episode: "An Eye for an Eye"
1964 Compact Hennegan 4 episodes
1965 Thirty-Minute Theatre Kieron Episode: "The Late Arrival of the Incoming Aircraft"
1966 Redcap Sgt. O'Brien Episode: "Crime Passionel"
1966 Insurrection Cathal Brugha Episode: "Thursday, 27 April 1916: When We Are All Wiped Out"
1966 Armchair Theatre Des Humphries Episode: "Great Big Blonde"
1967 Ó Dúill Liam Ó Dúill TV Mini-Series
1967 Sanctuary Mr. Daly Episode: "You Can't Touch Me"
1967 The Gamblers Mullery Episode: "Read 'em and Weep"
1967-1971 Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width Patrick Kelly 41 episodes
1968 Thirty-Minute Theatre Mr. Hill Episode: "Eveline"
1968 The Jazz Age Fetch Episode: "The Assassin"
1969 Love Story Episode: "Look Out! It's Margaret Mitchell's Solicitors!"
1969 All Star Comedy Carnival Patrick Brendan Kevin Aloysius Kelly TV movie
1970 Happy Ever After Wiggy Episode: "Come Back Stranger"
1970 ITV Sunday Night Theatre Michael O'Connor Episode: "Slattery's Mounted Foot"
1972 ITV Sunday Night Drama Finbar O'Sullivan Episode: "The Sanctuary Man"
1973 Crown Court George Wills Episode: "The Night for Country Dancing"
1973 The View from Daniel Pike Jim Murphy Episode: "None So Blind"
1973 The Frighteners Bob Blaw Episode: "Glad to Be of Help"
1974 Childhood Michael O'Donovan Episode: "An Only Child"
1974 The Tommy Cooper Hour 1 episodes
1974 The Playboy of the Western World Michael James TV movie
1975 Crown Court Eric Flynn Episode: "Ring in the New Year"
1975 Rule Britannia! Paddy O'Brien 7 episodes
1976-1979 Chorlton and the Wheelies Narrator / Various Characters 17 episodes
1976 Breakdown Dick Culver TV movie
1976 Whodunnit? Art Selby Episode: "A Bad Habit"
1978-1980 Coronation Street Ron Mather 9 episodes
1979 Play for Today Stacey Episode: "The Out of Town Boys"
1979 Return of the Saint Captain Finnigan 2 episodes
1979 The Hard Way Devane TV movie
1980-1982 Bracken Dinny Byrne 11 episodes
1983 The Irish R.M. Sgt. Murray 4 episodes
1983-2000 Glenroe Dinny Byrne 13 episodes, (final appearance)

References
  1. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2001/aug/16/artsfeatures1
  2. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/glenroe-actor-joe-lynch-76-dies-suddenly-in-spain-1.320695
  3. "Glenroe actor Joe Lynch (76) dies suddenly in Spain". irishtimes.com. Irish Times. 2 August 2001. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  4. "Obituaries - Joe Lynch". independent.co.uk. The Independent (UK). 13 August 2001. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  5. "The Teresa Deevy Archive". Retrieved 10 May 2020.
  6. "The Abbey Theatre Archive". Retrieved 10 May 2020.
  7. "First Radio Comedy Series1954". Raidió Teilifís Éireann. Retrieved 27 August 2020
  8. McGarry, Patsy. "Late writer Wesley Burrowes best remembered for ‘Glenroe’". Irish Times, 1 January 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2020
  9. "`Small potatoes' forced Dinny to quit Glenroe". Irish Independent. 26 May 2000. Retrieved 17 August 2008.
  10. "Glenroe star dies suddenly". The Irish News. 3 August 2001. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2008.
  11. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 208. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
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