Paudge Behan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Paudge Behan

Born 1965 (age 42–43)
Occupation Actor and writer[1]
Years active 1991–present

Paudge Behan (born 1965) is an Irish actor and writer. The son of IRA Chief of Staff Cathal Goulding and Beatrice ffrench-Salkeld, the widow of playwright Brendan Behan, Paudge Behan worked briefly as a journalist for a Dublin newspaper before turning to acting. After a series of minor film and television roles in the 1990s, he was handpicked by English novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford to appear as the male lead in a 1999 dramatization of her book A Secret Affair (1996).

Behan has also appeared in the feature films A Man of No Importance (1994), Conspiracy of Silence (2003) and Veronica Guerin (2003), and has taken leading roles in two short films, A Lonely Sky (2006) and Wake Up (2007).

Contents

[edit] Family and early life

Paudge Behan received his family name from his mother Beatrice's husband Brendan Behan, pictured here at the Jager House Ballroom in New York City in 1960.
Paudge Behan received his family name from his mother Beatrice's husband Brendan Behan, pictured here at the Jager House Ballroom in New York City in 1960.

Born in 1965,[2] Paudge Behan is the son of Cathal Goulding (1923–1998), Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army and the Official IRA, and Beatrice Behan (née ffrench-Salkeld) (1925–1993).[2][3] As a teenager, Goulding was involved with the IRA youth wing Fianna Éireann which he joined with his neighbour and lifelong friend Brendan Behan (1923–1964), who later became one of the most successful Irish dramatists of the 20th century. After Brendan Behan's early death at the age of 41 on 20 March 1964, Goulding had Paudge Behan with Brendan's widow Beatrice.[4][5] Paudge and his half-sister Blanaid[6] grew up at 5 Anglesea Road, a red-brick, semi-detached late Victorian house in Ballsbridge, Dublin, which Brendan Behan bought for his wife Beatrice in 1959 for £1,400. In her memoirs,[7] Beatrice Behan described the house as "ugly on the outside, but neat and compact within".[1] Paudge Behan reluctantly put the house up for auction in June 2005; a guide price of €1.2 million (around £840,000 in 2007) was quoted for it.[1]

[edit] Career

Before turning to acting, Behan had a brief career in journalism in Ireland: "I interviewed everyone from priests to prostitutes before my Dublin paper folded."[8] Behan was also involved in theatre work – he was a costume assistant during the original production of Tom Murphy's adaptation of Liam O'Flaherty's 1925 novel The Informer on 13 October 1981 at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin.[9] He participated in various other plays in Dublin, but finding them "all very over the top, very amateurish, full of people turning up drunk or not turning up at all", he decided to leave Ireland and pursue art studies in Berlin.[10]

However, Behan found he could not concentrate on his art in Germany as he was working too hard in the evenings in nightclubs and bars to earn money. Also, as he was doing "too much drinking as well, so unless I wanted to start a new art style where it would've been very 'shakey' [sic] to look at, basically I decided I had to do something else". He resolved to go to London to study acting. After applying to three drama schools he was accepted by the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).[10] For about three years from 1990 or 1991, he lived with his friends from RADA, David Harewood and Danny Cerqueira, at 39 Ravenshaw Street in West Hampstead. Harewood recalls that his housemates were "fantastic characters" – "It was a wonderful, experimental time. We'd spend long nights discussing art, life and politics; smoking weed, drinking lots of whisky, listening to music and throwing furniture on the fire."[11]

The Abbey Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, as it appeared on 20 November 2006.
The Abbey Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, as it appeared on 20 November 2006.

On 15 May 1991 at Dublin's Abbey Theatre, Behan played the lead character Connolly in the original production of Tom Murphy's play The Patriot Game, which charted the events of the Easter Rising of 1916.[12] He also acted as a thug in the comedy film London Kills Me (1991); and made an appearance in the TV film Anglo-Saxon Attitudes (1992), based on the 1956 satirical novel by Angus Wilson. Other TV roles included characters in episodes of Highlander: The Series (1995) and The New Adventures of Robin Hood (1997). He was subsequently handpicked[13] by English novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford to be the male protagonist of the made-for-television film A Secret Affair (1999), based on her 1996 book. In the film, which gained him a large and enthusiastic female following, he starred as Bill Fitzgerald, a war correspondent who falls in love with and pursues Vanessa Stewart (Janine Turner) in Venice although she is engaged, and who is subsequently kidnapped in a war zone.[14]

Other films that Behan appeared in include A Man of No Importance (1994), Conspiracy of Silence (2003) and Veronica Guerin (2003). In the latter film, he played Brian Meehan, who was convicted of murdering Irish crime journalist Veronica Guerin in 1996. In 2006 he appeared in Nick Ryan's short film A Lonely Sky as Jack Reilly, a test pilot who risks his life to break the sound barrier in 1947, but who is forced to question his reasons and abilities by a strange yet familiar man. The ten-minute film won Best Film (Production and Post-Production) at the Digital Media Awards in Dublin in February 2007.[15] His most recent project is the short film Wake Up (2007), in which he plays the lead character Nathan. The film is the first 20 minutes of a proposed feature film.[16]

Concerning acting, Behan has been quoted as saying "this is a good business when it's working, but when it’s not, it's awful".[10]

[edit] Selected work

[edit] Film

Year(s)
of appearance		 Film Role Awards and nominations
1991 London Kills Me White thug at party
1994 Uncovered Domenec
1994 A Man of No Importance Kitty
1996 Snakes and Ladders Dan
2001 Bye Bye Inkhead (short film)[17] [Unnamed cast member]
2003 Conspiracy of Silence Niall
2003 Veronica Guerin Brian Meehan
2006 A Lonely Sky (short film) Jack Reilly
2007 Wake Up (short film) Nathan

Some information in this table was obtained from Paudge Behan: Filmography. Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Retrieved on 2007-11-11.

[edit] Television

Year(s)
of appearance		 Film or series Role Awards and nominations
1992 Anglo-Saxon Attitudes Larrie Rourke
1995
(1 episode)		 Highlander: The Series (1992–1998)

"Reasonable Doubt"

 Lucas Kagan
1997
(1 episode)		 The New Adventures of Robin Hood (1997–1998)

"Your Land is My Land"

 Dan
1998 Close Relations Todd
1999 A Secret Affair[18] Bill Fitzgerald

Some information in this table was obtained from Paudge Behan: Filmography. Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Retrieved on 2007-11-11.

[edit] Theatre

Year(s)
of appearance		 Production Role Awards and nominations
1991 The Patriot Game (1991)
by Tom Murphy

Abbey Theatre, Dublin, Ireland

 Connolly

[edit] Personal life

In addition to his half-sister Blanaid, Paudge Behan has one older half-brother, Cathal Og (the son of Cathal Goulding and Patty Germaine who married in 1950), and two younger half-brothers, Aodhgan and Banban (the sons of Goulding and Dr. Moira Woods who lived together from 1971). He also has six step-siblings – Penny, Denis, Chris, Catherine, Timothy and Benjamin Woods[19] – the children of Dr. Woods.[20]

He is also a nephew by marriage of Irish songwriter, short story writer, novelist and playwright Dominic Behan (1928–1989), who was Brendan Behan's brother.[20]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c Frank McDonald. "Home of All the Behans", The Irish Times, 2005-05-26. 
  2. ^ a b Table 4 ("ffrench-Salkeld families") of Michael O'Sullivan (1997). Brendan Behan: A Life. Dublin: Blackwater Press, xviii. ISBN 0861216989. 
  3. ^ Beatrice Behan; Des Hickey & Gus Smith (1973). My Life with Brendan. London: Leslie Frewin Publishers, 41. ISBN 0-85632-042-0.  See also Biography for Brendan Behan. Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Retrieved on 2007-11-18.
  4. ^ For this reason, it is inaccurate to describe Paudge Behan as Brendan Behan's "adoptive son", as IMDb does: see Biography for Paudge Behan. Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Retrieved on 2007-11-18.
  5. ^ "Goulding's career included many years as IRA chief of staff, many more seeking to break into politics, and an exotic love-life which included having a son by Behan's widow": David McKittrick. "Obituary: Cathal Goulding", The Independent (reproduced on FindArticles), 1998-12-29.  Oddly, in her memoirs, Beatrice Behan omitted to mention that Paudge was her biological son. She wrote, "Life in my house hasn't changed much, except that Blanaid, now a frail, brown-haired girl with a gift for drawing, has a brother, Paudge, a fair-haired boy I adopted, who makes a good companion for her": My Life with Brendan, p. 250. A photograph of Blanaid and Paudge as children with their pet rabbit Sneachta in their garden in Dublin appears as illustration 47 on p. 224 of the book.

    In December 2003, Paudge Behan expressed unhappiness that Bertie Ahern, Taoiseach (prime minister) of Ireland, had officiated at the unveiling of a statue to Brendan Behan at the Royal Canal in Dublin. When asked to say a few words after the Taoiseach's address, Behan addressed Ahern directly, saying: "There is nobody further removed from Behan's spirit than yourself." He later explained that his family had not been consulted about who would attend the event in an official capacity and he had not been pleased at the Taoiseach's attendance. "What has Bertie Ahern in common with Brendan Behan, other than they are both Irish? When you see what is happening with the fat cats in this country, with Bertie Ahern and his Government, I can't think of anyone further from the spirit of Brendan Behan. Shannon being used as an American air base for waging war on another country, was that in the spirit of Brendan Behan?": Olivia Kelly. "Ahern incurs wrath of Paudge Behan", The Irish Times (reproduced on Indymedia Ireland), 2003-12-09. 

  6. ^ Blanaid Behan, the daughter of Brendan and Beatrice Behan, was born on 24 November 1963: My Life with Brendan, p. 235. She was named after Beatrice Behan's grandmother Blanaid Salkeld, a poet, dramatist and actress: Brendan Behan: A Life, p. 296.
  7. ^ My Life with Brendan, pp. 148–149.
  8. ^ Behind the scenes of "Barbara Taylor Bradford's A Secret Affair" 1999. BarbaraTaylorBradford.com (?1999). Retrieved on 2007-11-11.
  9. ^ The Informer. Irish Playography. Retrieved on 2007-11-13.
  10. ^ a b c Michael Hilliard (2003-07-23). Interview: Paudge Behan, 19th July 2003. Film Scene [blog]. Retrieved on 2008-04-01.
  11. ^ Caroline Rees. "Time and place: David Harewood", The Sunday Times, 2008-01-20. 
  12. ^ The Patriot Game was originally commissioned as a TV play by the BBC in 1965 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising which occurred in 1916, but it was never aired: The Patriot Game. Irish Playography. Retrieved on 2007-11-13.
  13. ^ Army Archerd. "With Cates out, Oscar needs producer", Variety, 1999-08-26. 
  14. ^ A Secret Affair at the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 11 November 2007.
  15. ^ Official website of A Lonely Sky. Retrieved on 11 November 2007.
  16. ^ Wake Up at the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 11 November 2007.
  17. ^ Bye Bye Inkhead. AFI Fest Festival Database. Retrieved on 2007-11-13.
  18. ^ Ray Richmond (1999-10-27). Barbara Taylor Bradford's A Secret Affair [review]. Variety. Retrieved on 2007-11-13.
  19. ^ "Cathal Goulding [obituary]", The Irish Times, 1999-01-19.  See Archive search [using keywords "Paudge Behan"]. Ireland.com (The Irish Times). Retrieved on 2007-11-11.
  20. ^ a b Biography for Paudge Behan. Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Retrieved on 2007-11-18.

[edit] References

Persondata
NAME Behan, Paudge
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Irish actor and writer
DATE OF BIRTH 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH