Media frenzy on Reed death angers locals

During his sometimes explosive life and career, Oliver Reed attracted more than a little media attention. Six years ago, he moved to the hamlet of Churchtown in north Co. Cork to avoid the limelight and to be able to enjoy his favourite tipple in an unobtrusive rural setting.

People in Churchtown, near Buttevant, welcomed him, were proud of him and enjoyed his presence. A legendary actor, with an arm's length of movie hits behind him, had come to live in their midst. Earlier this week, he died in a pub in Malta and in keeping with his wishes, his body was returned to Ireland and to Cork. The funeral service will be held at the Church of St James in Mallow on Saturday next, after which his remains will be interred in the Churchtown cemetery.

Reed, the locals say, was a philanthropist and a wonderful character who brought his charm and personality to the area and demanded nothing in return. But since his death, the tabloids have descended on the quiet north Cork village of Churchtown, knocking on doors, firing off pictures and intruding on a quiet community.

Such communities grieve their dead in a very personal way. When you become one of that community, as Oliver Reed did, there is a coming together - a prayerful coming-together - due to the fact that the deceased was part of the daily round. It appears that Oliver Reed fitted that mould and was highly respected in the Churchtown community. He had a word for everyone on the streets and in the pubs and never emphasised his prowess as an actor. His whole ambition, since he came to Churchtown, as locals tell it, was to become a member of the community and to integrate.

Churchtown would not be known to many people in Co. Cork, let alone outside of the county. It is a backwater not too far from Buttevant, which itself is a place to be passed through on the way to Limerick. But it was there that Oliver Reed chose to live and there he made good and lasting friends. Now that the media have come knocking on doors, there is great anger in the hamlet at the sudden intrusion.

A local publican, Mary Fitzgerald, said she had witnessed with great sadness the media's incursion. "Oliver lived with us for six years and he was a dear member of the local community. He was wonderful, but now I must say I feel great disappointment that all of a sudden, everybody wants a piece of him. I cannot remember too many people from the media calling to Churchtown when he was alive and when we all thought he was a wonderful human being. I'm not saying anything else."

At the post office, Marie Crowley said she was sick and tired of people calling to ask questions about Oliver Reed.

"He was in a few times and I always saw him as a very quiet man. He was very well liked - all the postmen here were mad about him - and he would walk around the village chatting to everybody. I suppose you could say he was a very colourful character and he added colour to the village. He loved being here and loved to have a drink with the local people. He was one of our own," she said.

In Churchtown, a scenic village off the beaten track, there is a pub, a local shop, the post office and the primary school - Scoil Bru Thuinne, which caters for 50 pupils. One of his favourite watering holes was O'Brien's pub, in the village, which he nicknamed Grumpy's. Pat O'Brien, the owner, agreed he was the Grumpy in question but would not say why his friend and customer had given him the nickname.

"I'm saying nothing to anybody about Oliver and I intend to continue that policy. I'm fed up with the media and all the questions, knocking on the door and telephone calls. He was a very good friend and a regular customer. The tabloids are trying to get quotes out of everyone. But for us, Oliver was a great local character and one of us. Yes, of course, he would sing a song of an evening and he was also given to quoting Shakespeare. He was a very popular person in the pub and he will be sadly missed. He was a friend to everyone," he said.

One woman who asked not to be named said Reed was a "wild character with a drink in him" but gentle and quiet when sober. She said he was a friend to local charities and did much to help raise funds for them as well as contributing substantial amounts from his own coffers.