From Hollywood hunk to respected

GABRIEL Byrne is now, and the familiar aquiline features have become more craggy with the years, but for his many Irish female fans, the Byrne sex appeal is as strong as ever.

At the recent Stars and Stripes barbecue in the American ambassador's residence, the actor had to retreat hastily into the VIP compound when the attentions of his adoring female admirers became too intense.

Ever since the days of The Riordans and Bracken, the former teacher and seminarian has had to cope with the trappings of being Ireland's best known sex symbol.

It's an image which he has never seemed entirely comfortable with, and his recent work indicates that he's trying to, change his image from saturnine hunk to respected writer.

But Byrne's profile in Ireland at the moment is as high as it's been since the heyday of Bracken.

The film, The Last of the High Kings, which he both co wrote and stars in, had its world premiere last week at the Galway Film Fleadh, while another script, the short Irish language drama, Draoicht on Silver Strand for Teilifis na Gaeilge, is currently shooting under the direction of his ex partner and long standing working colleague, Aine O'Connor.

He is also a prominent figure in the preparations for events to mark the 150th anniversary of the Famine.

Gabriel Byrne's Hollywood career has been a stop start affair, and he has made some questionable script choices over the years. Interestingly, his most successful roles have been as enigmatic criminals in two convoluted thrillers, Miller's Crossing and The Usual Suspects. He seems at his best as a silent, brooding focal point around whom the action whirls.

There have been plenty of forgettable turkeys, though - Hello Again, Diamond Skulls and Cool World among them - but the work keeps coming, and he has undoubtedly made a substantial amount of money over the last decade.

During that time, Byrne has maintained close contacts with Ireland, returning regularly to lend his weight and assistance to Irish feature films. In 1987, he played a violent drug dealer in The Courier, a brave but flawed attempt to transpose the urban thriller genre to modern Dublin.

Byrne was the best thing in the film, and his portrayal of a violent criminal boss with a taste for the good life looks remarkably prescient in 1996. He was involved from the start with Jim Sheridan on the fairytale adventure Into The West, in which he played the self destructive traveller, Papa Reilly an overwrought performance that served to underline the fact that he's at his best in more understated roles.

While Into the West was in production, Byrne was also working closely as a producer with Sheridan on a film based on Presumed Innocent, Gerry Conlon's book about the Guildford Four.

But the film, which was to become In The Name of the Father, led to a rift between the two men when Sheridan complained that Byrne was not committing enough time or effort to the project. While Byrne received a prominent credit in the finished film, his involvement in the actual production was negligible, and the cameo role which he was due to fill, of a tough Provo prisoner, was ultimately taken by singer Don Baker.

At times, his judgment of the quality of Irish scripts seems suspect. In Noel Pearson's dreadful Frankie Starlight, he was one of the film's few saving graces, delivering a sensitive; and affecting performance as a father figure to the young central character.

He seems resigned to the fact that his high profile relationships will inevitably be subjected to the full glare of media attention. In particular, his marriage to fellow star Ellen Barkin, and their subsequent divorce, was perfect fodder for the gossip columns.

The pair are still closely involved in the raising of their two sons, six year old Jack and three year old Romy.

His current romance with the rising English star Julia Ormond began on the set of Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow.

Byrne's writing ambitions began to be realised in 1994, when he returned to RTE to record five 18 minute autobiographical sketches, on subjects ranging from his experiences in a Jesuit school to an account of a difficult film shoot in Yugoslavia. Later the same year, he expanded on these reminiscences for Pictures in My Head, a collection of stories published by Poolbeg, which was warmly received.

At the moment, he seems to have the best of all possible worlds, moving between Los Angeles (his home) and Ireland, starring in big budget movies and making himself available for smaller films at home.

Together with Aine O'Connor, he is reported to have optioned several recent Irish novels for adaptation to the screen by their production company. As he moves into middle age, Gabriel Byrne, no longer just a pretty face, is sitting pretty.