Cyril Cusack: Lár an Stáitse

The life and times of one of Ireland’s finest actors, Cyril Cusack, features in a documentary on TG4 on Christmas Day. Cusack’s career began in the early days of Irish silent cinema and saw him conquer stage, screen and TV. Cusack appealed to many generations across his 75-year career. To some, he was the Irishman who popped up in Hollywood films. To others, he was Uncle Peter in Glenroe. He was also a poet, playwright and gaelgeoir.

Starting with Cusack’s screen debut at the age of eight in one of the first films ever shot in Ireland, the silent classic Knocknagow, the documentary goes on to look at his performances alongside James Mason in Odd Man Out, Richard Burton in The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, Edward Fox in The Day of the Jackal as well as classics like 1984, Harold and Maude, Fahrenheit 451 and My Left Foot, directed by Jim Sheridan.

Cusack appeared in over 130 movies and TV shows and was sought after in both the UK and Hollywood. Richard Burton considered him the greatest actor he had ever appeared opposite. The documentary also looks at his remarkable stage career in plays such as The Playboy of the Western World, The Plough and the Stars and Chekhov’s Three Sisters, in which he appeared alongside his three daughters – Sorcha, Sinéad and Niamh.