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PLAYWRIGHT HUGH Leonard died yesterday in hospital at the age of 82; he had been seriously ill for the past month. Known to his friends as “Jack”, he was born John Keyes Byrne in 1926. He was raised by adoptive parents in Dalkey, Co Dublin, and after school worked at the Land Commission, where he was active in the dramatic society.

When the Abbey Theatre rejected his play The Italian Roadin 1954, he took the name of its hero and submitted another play, The Big Birthday, which the Abbey staged in 1956. Since then, Leonard has been a prolific writer of plays, essays, journalism and autobiography. Among his plays are A Leap in the Dark(1957), The Poker Session(1964), Mick and Mick(1966), The Patrick Pearse Motel(1971), The Au Pair Man(1974) and A Life(1980). His most successful play, Da(1973), ran for 20 months and 697 performances on Broadway, earning him a Tony Award; it was made into a film in 1988, starring Martin Sheen and Barnard Hughes.