Dad Cyril didn’t encourage me to be an actor, quite the opposite – but I proved him wrong, says Sinead Cusack
SINEAD Cusack has revealed how it was her dad’s disapproval of her as an actor that spurred her on.
The talented thespian, 74, is a member of the Cusack Dynasty, with father Cyril regarded as one of the greatest stage performers of all time.
Daughters Sinead, Niamh, Sorcha and later Catherine all followed in his footsteps to become actors, while son Padraig is a theatre producer and Paul worked for RTE.
And Sinead, who is married to fellow actor Jeremy Irons, told how her father’s criticism of her early performances drove her on.
Speaking in a new TG4 film about her dad, Sinead said: “Well, dad didn’t give me encouragement as far as the acting was concerned. In fact, quite the reverse.
“He said I’d never make it as a stage actress. He said I might do ok in film and television. But as far as the stage was concerned, I didn’t have the ‘right equipment’. I never knew what he meant by that.
“That particular judgement spurred me on. I was determined to work on stage as a stage actress and happily I did. So that’ll show him.”
And daughter Sorcha recalled how her father had also given her some false praise after seeing her and Sinead perform in Romeo and Juliet in separate productions.
Sorcha said: “He said, ‘If we had Sinead playing the first half and Sorcha playing the second half, we might have had a Juliet.’”
The family fondly recall their father, who was known for his rows with directors, in a new documentary for TG4.
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The siblings reveal the highs and lows of their dad’s career, which included a 20 year absence from the West End following a “strange incident”, as the star himself called it.
According to theatre legend, the star went drinking on St Patrick’s Day in 1942 while performing with Vivien Leigh in the Haymarket.
He later took to the stage but recited verses from the Playboy of the Western World, getting himself fired from the production.
Sinead said: “He didn’t appear again on the West End stage. He was almost blacklisted, you could say, until Peter Brook brought him back in The Physicists 20 years later.
“It was a pretty devastating situation for dad, I would say.”
Stephen Rea said of the incident: “The idea that he was behaving as a stereotypical Irishman riled him a bit.”
Jeremy Irons said: “I never spoke to him about it about if he was bitter. But I think he would have been up there with Ralph Richardson, John Gielgud, (Paul) Schofield, (Laurence) Olivier as one of the five greats of acting.”
Despite, the incident, Cyril had huge success on screen and starred in the first ever Irish language movie, Poitin, in 1978.
He also starred in Hollywood productions like My Left Foot and Far & Away.
Cyril died in London in October, 1993 at the age of 83 from Motor Neurone Disease, which had affected his speech.
He had been unable to work on TV or radio in his final years as a result.
He was buried in a cemetery overlooking Dublin Bay, with son Paul saying: “I think he would have been happy with that.”
Stephen Rea said of the star’s legacy: "We all accept him as a rare thing - a great actor that was exceptionally special.”
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Jeremy Irons added: “It was an honour to know him really.”
Cyril Cusack - Lar an Staitse airs on TG4 at 9.30 on Christmas Day.