Actor and singer Joe Lynch was born in born in Mallow, Co Cork, on July16, 1925, the son of an engine driver and a bookbinder. He excelled in sports at school, played the piano and tin whistle, learned Irish dancing and had a fine tenor voice.
Joe Lynch: versatile actor and singer.
He went to school at Blackrock College, Dublin, after which he acted part-time at the Cork Opera House and trained at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.
By the time he joined the Radio Eireann Repertory Company in 1947, he was performing full-time. He acted, sang and compered radio programmes such as Young at Heart, The Balladmakers’ Saturday Night and Living With Lynch (1954-58), his own comedy series.
He combined his Radio Eireann work with impressive roles on stage; he played Bull McCabe in J.B. Keane’s The Field, and Christy Mahon in The Playboy of the Western World.
Following small parts in films such as A Terrible Beauty (1960), The Siege of Sidney Street (1960), Johnny Nobody (1961), The Running Man (1963), Girl with Green Eyes (1964) and The Face of Fu Manchu (1965), he made his mark on RTE as Cathal Brugha in Hugh Leonard’s series Insurrection (1966), which marked the 50th anniversary of the 1916 Rising.
He also played Blazes Boylan in Joseph Strick’s film version Ulysses (1967), in John Huston’s The Mackintosh Man (1973), and in the Irish film Eat the Peach (1986).
Joe Lynch was also an accomplished singer performing on stage, screen and radio variety shows, and he made popular recordings of The Whistling Gypsy, The Rose of Mooncoin and The Stone Outside Dan Murphy’s Door.
Moving on to fresh pastures in British TV, he starred as the Irish trouser-maker Patrick Kelly in 39 episodes of the comedy Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width (1967-71) and in the sitcom Rule Britannia (1975), before playing one of Elsie Tanner’s boyfriends in Coronation Street (1978-79).
Returning to Ireland, he took the role of the scheming, cantankerous Dinny Byrne alonside Gabriel Byrne in the popular rural drama Bracken (1980-82), and was cast in the same role along with Mick Lally in the sequel, Glenroe (1983-2000).
Joe Lynch married Marie Nutty in 1952 (one son, one daughter, and one daughter deceased). He died Alicante, Spain on August 1, 2001.
I got to know Joe when I moved into a flat in Wimbledon previously occupied
by the actor Jim Naughton and his lovely wife
Every now and then Joe would ring me, I would tell him that the Naughtons no
longer lived at Kings Court but we became telephonei friends nonetheless
I remember one occasion when Joe telephoned and said that he had got a part
in Coronation Street as Elsie Tanners other half. I told him that it would all end in tears !!!
Joe was a lovely guy and may he rest in peace
Myself and and my friend JJ O’Connor, Mick Flanagan and our band had many a wonderful night with Joe as we did a good few shows all round the Birmingham area and afterwards we would retire to JJs (RIP) home in Rubery where we were kept enthralled until the wee small hours. He was a a great friend and an outstanding entertainer apart from his film work and we miss you. May the good Lord keep you in the palm of his hand until we meet again on the far side Jordan.
Suaimneas síoraí, a dhaid.
My most vivid memory of Joe Lynch is his lovely rendition of Cottage by the Lee which I often heard on Radio Eireann in the 50s, his was truly a beautiful voice.
- Fred Hawkins