Maureen Potter. Gaels Of Laughter.
Actress and comedienne Maureen Potter was loved by generations of irish theatregoers. Born in Fairview in 1925 and a fifth generation Dubliner, she was christened Maria Philomena, but was always called by her preferred name, Maureen.
Her 70-year career embraced variety, pantomime, television, cinema and straight theatre. She was in the spotlight from the time she became the junior Irish dancing champion at the age of seven until ill-health forced her into retirement at the age of 77. Her first professional engagement was at the age of seven and she went on to distinguish herself as a comedienne and as an outstanding actress in plays by O’Casey, Shaw, Sheridan and Beckett.
She was discovered performing in local clubs by comedian Jimmy O’Dea, who put her in one of his pantomimes when she was ten.
As a child impressionist and dancer before the Second World War, she toured overseas with the Jack Hilton orchestra and would later recall with distaste performing before Hitler and the other Nazi leaders on a trip to Germany. Enchanted by her performance, Hitler sent her a handwritten note, which she proudly showed to her mother, who promptly threw it in the waste bin.
After the war, she resumed a professional association with O’Dea that was to last for 30 years. She had begun in O’Dea’s shadow, but, by the time of his death in 1965, the public saw her as his equal.
She became the queen of pantomime at Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre, most notably working with comedian Danny Cummins, and starred in a comedy show, Gaels of Laughter, that ran for 15 summers. She was a fine singer and tap-dancer, but what captivated the public were her comic characters, like the exasperated mother of the 14-year-old Christy, and the Dublin “auld wan”, a version of the duologues she had performed with O’Dea.
For generations of Irish children, Potter was an introduction to the magical world of theatre. In her pantomimes, she made a point of memorising the names of birthday children during the interval, then reeling them off in the second half without a prompt card – her record was 67. After the show, she would entertain them, drinking milk to set a good example, though with a tot of whiskey in it.
A woman of great sharpness, dignity and humility, Potter treated everyone she met – from the Taoiseach to Dublin street traders – with warmth and respect. Even the poet Patrick Kavanagh, as the grumpiest man in Dublin, once walked up to her and said: “Do you know what? You’re not a bad little woman at all.”
However, after years of pratfalls and tap-dancing, she changed direction and became a straight actor. She appeared, to much acclaim, in several plays, notably at the Gate as Maisie Madigan in Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock (1986) – the production also had a New York run – and as Mrs Henderson in Shadow of a Gunman (1996).
Maureen Potter was given the freedom of Dublin in 1984 and an honorary degree by Trinity College in 1988. She made many television appearances in her later years, and wrote a series of children’s books.
In 1959, she married Jack O’Leary, an army officer she had known since 1943; she said she fell for him when she saw him, resplendent in his uniform, eating a bag of chips. The real reason probably involved a shared sense of humour, for O’Leary wrote most of Potter’s subsequent material.
Maureen Potter died peacefully at her home in Clontarf in Dublin on April 7, 2004, at the age of 79. She was survived by her husband Jack and sons, John and Hugh.