My friend Brian Phelan, who has died aged 90, was an actor turned playwright whose work was performed on television and on stage between the mid-1970s and early-2000s.
Over that period he produced works such as Woman’s Estate (1974) and Holding On (1977), both for LWT; The Russian Soldier (1986), directed by Gavin Millar for the BBC; Murphy’s Stroke (Thames Television, 1980); Knockback (1987 for the BBC) and Coded Hostile for Granada in 1989.
His many stage plays included Article 5 (1975), The Signalman’s Apprentice (1974), which was perhaps his best known creation, Paddy (1977) and Himself (1993), the last of which starred Timothy West at the Nuffield theatre in Southampton, the Theatre Royal in Bath and Richmond theatre, London.
Later on, No Tears, which he wrote for RTÉ in 2002, won the best miniseries award at the Monte Carlo television festival.
Brian was born in Dublin to Micheal, a builder, and Theresa (nee Fogerty), a housewife. Educated by the Christian Brothers, Brian was apprenticed as a carpenter before emigrating at the age of 18 with his family to Canada, where he began acting in theatre and television.
In his early 20s he returned to Ireland, and in 1956 landed his first notable stage role there at the Abbey theatre in Dublin, in Brendan Behan’s The Quare Fellow. Moving to the UK shortly afterwards, he met the young Canadian actor Donald Sutherland, resulting in a long-lasting friendship, and appeared in Miss Julie at the Arts theatre, as well as in a number of films, including The Kitchen (1961), HMS Defiant (1962) and three movies for Joseph Losey – The Criminal (1960), The Servant (1963) and Accident (1967). I met Brian in London in the late 60s when I was working at the BBC, and we discovered that we had mutual friends and shared cultural interests.
While still acting Brian delivered his first television script to ATV – The Tormentors (1966) – which became an ITV Play of the Week starring James Mason and Stanley Baker. Its success prompted him to turn away from acting to concentrate on his writing.
Both in his work environment and outside, Brian was a man of great loyalty and simpatico, and his many friends were a vital part of his life.
His first marriage, to Jan Heppell in 1960, ended in divorce in 1964, and he spent the rest of his life with his partner, Dorothy Bromiley, an actor who predeceased him by only a few days.
He is survived by their daughter, Kate, and by Josh, Dorothy’s son from a previous marriage.
