RIP Peadar Lamb

Former Abbey actor Peadar Lamb has died at the age of 87 after a stellar career  in television and in much-lauded stage productions of  Brendan Behan's The Hostage, JM Synge's The Shadow of a Gunman, and Brian Friel's Philadelphia Here I Come. The actor died peacefully at home in Glenageary, County Dublin on Friday.

Peadar Lamb grew up in An Cheathrú Rua in Conamara and was a son of the celebrated painter Charles Lamb. Peadar Lamb was married to well-known actress Geraldine Plunkett, who is well-known for her roles in RTÉ's Glenroeand, more recently, as Rose O'Brien in Fair City.

Lamb joined the Abbey Theatre in 1954 and toured North America in 1990 in JM Synge's The Playboy of the Western World. 1990 was a particularly fruitful year and the actor played Dr Burke in the TV movie, The Lilac Bus, and he interpreted the role of the Registrar inDecember Bride which featured the late Dónal McCann in a starring role.

Peadar Lamb starred in many Irish language productions, including Cré na Cille and In Ainm an Athar and he played Fin Varra inMystic Knights of Tír na Nóg.

Lamb himself also acted in Fair City and he played PJ Doherty in Ros na Rún. He was The Bishop in Bob Quinn's celebrated film, Budawanny and played Sir John Lavery in the 1991 TV movie The Treaty, which was directed by Jonathan Lewis. The following year he played Mr Hasson in the film, The Railway Station Man, which also starred Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie.

That film was based on the novel of the same name by Irish writer Jennifer Johnson. The same year he numbered among the cast, playing a farmer, in Far and Away. He was Paddy Joe O'Reilly in Jim Sheridan's film,The Field - based on the JB Keane play of that name - which also starred Richard Harris and John Hurt.

Noted and indeed justly applauded for comedic and tragic roles alike, Lamb played Fargo Boyle in a 1998 episode in Father Ted , entitled Chirpy Burpy Cheap Sleep. He also played a role in Killanaskully. 

Pat Shortt has tweeted his fond recollections of Peadar, as follows: "Very sad to hear of the passing of The immensely talented Peadar Lamb. I have fond memories of working with him. RIP."

In June 2002, Peadar and his wife Geraldine played leading roles in a production of Tony Guerin's play, Hummin' performed by the Waterford-based Red Kettle company. Hummin'was set in an isolated part of North Kerry and told the story of farmer Mike Dee and the stormy relationship between him and his partner, Jennie, who once worked as a prostitute in Dublin. The work was described by Red Kettle as "a psychological thriller" with severe comedy "somewhere between John B. Keane and Quentin Tarantino."

Peadar Lamb is survived by his wife, his six children and eight grand-children.


LAMB, Peadar
Born: 1930, County Galway, Ireland
Died: 9/1/2017, Gleageary, Ireland

Peadar Lamb’s western – actor:
Far and Away – 1992 (farmer)