Madam, – Your obituary for Dónal Donnelly (January 9th) marked the life of a highly respected actor who never sought, or found, stardom. And yet, thanks to one role, his legacy is secure, and will continue to resonate even more strongly as the years pass.
He was the wonderfully comic Freddy Malins in John Huston's masterpiece, The Dead, based on the masterpiece by Joyce. Donnelly died just two days before the Feast of the Epiphany, the night the story unfolds. At the end, the main character, Gabriel Conroy, has his famous epiphany as "One by one, they were all becoming shades".
Life imitates art. My wife and I return to this film each January 6th, and we cannot but feel extra poignancy as many of those who created it have themselves become shades.
Among them are Huston (who died before its release), Donal McCann, and singer Frank Patterson, whose Lass of Aughrimso transported Gabriel's wife Gretta, which in turn led to the desolate epiphany. Dónal Donnelly has joined them, at a time when snow was general all over Ireland, "falling softly, softly falling". – Yours, etc,