Peter Dix:The actor Peter Dix, who has died aged 82, performed for four decades with the RTÉ Players. He took part in 1,000 radio plays and one of the highlights of his broadcasting career was in 1982 when he narrated the 32-hour production of James Joyce's Ulysses.
He was born Reginald Peter Vignoles in Torquay, Devonshire, in January 1925, the son of John and Joyce Vignoles. Acting was in his blood - his father was an actor/manager.
Following his mother's death in 1935, his father arranged for him to be fostered in Ireland by Ernest Reginald MacClintock Dix and his wife Úna Bean Uí Dhíosca. His foster father was a lawyer and bibliophile, while his foster mother, a cousin of the painter W J Leech, was a novelist and founder member of the Irish Countrywomen's Association. The family lived at Rathfarnham, Co Dublin.
He was sent to national school in Connemara to learn Irish, becoming a fluent speaker of the language. He continued his education at Newbridge College and studied at Trinity College Dublin, though he did not complete his course.
Instead, he enrolled at the Abbey School of Acting, where he trained under Lennox Robinson. He began his professional career touring with Carl Clopet productions, later joining the Louis Dalton company. Following a short season with Anew McMaster, he became a member of the Ronald Ibbs company. Next he took part in a tour of Northern Ireland, under the auspices of the Committee for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts, playing Laertes in Hamlet.
He subsequently joined Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop, then based in Manchester. He toured Scandinavia and Czechoslovakia with the company, which included Ewan McColl and Peggy Seeger.
Returning to Ireland, he played with major companies at the Gate and Olympia theatres. He was a member of the original cast of The Heart's A Wonder, the musical version of The Playboy of the Western World. After a successful run at the Gaiety, the production transferred to the Westminster Theatre, London.
In October 1961 he joined the RTÉ Players from which, after 36 years, he retired in January 1997. During that time he played about 1,000 different roles in plays and daily serials ranging from comedies to the radio adaptation of James Plunkett's Strumpet City in 1974.
He continued to work as a stage actor. In the 1980s he played Antonio in the Merchant of Venice, one of the last Edwards/MacLiammóir productions at the Gate; he also played Inspector Lestrade in The Mask of Moriarty by Hugh Leonard.
He enjoyed film and television work. He was delighted to be cast as the Craggy Island goalkeeper in "Escape from Victory", an episode of Father Ted first broadcast in 1995. His film credits include Captain Lightfoot (1955), the Siege of Sydney Street (1960) and the Anjelica Huston/Brendan O'Carroll collaboration Agnes Brown (1995).
He made his last stage appearance in 2002 at the Civic Theatre, Tallaght, in a production of the Chairs by Ionesco. He last appeared on television in the Granada production Malice Aforethought in 2003.
Laurence Foster, retired head of RTÉ radio drama, penned the following lines in tribute to his former colleague:
Thespian fine was our dear Peter,
Made long touring days seem so much sweeter,
With limericks oft clever and tart.
Though he seemed not to care a jot or two figs
With his witty and pithy theatrical digs,
His praise would come straight from the heart.
He enjoyed all forms of sports and was an enthusiastic hiker, walking the major walks in Britain and Ireland. He once had a narrow escape when struck by lightening on the Pennine Way. While limericks were his forte, he was also famous for his puns. He never let a day pass without doing at least one crossword. He lived in Kilmacanogue, Co Wicklow.
Predeceased by his wife Anne (née McGovern) in 2005, he is survived by his son Julian, daughters Nóinín, Kate and Rose, sister Deirdre Clegg and grandchildren.
Peter Dix (Reginald Peter Vignoles): born January 2nd, 1925; died February 5th, 2007