On the fortieth anniversary of his passing, Maxi remembers golden moments spent in the company of Ireland’s talented star of stage and film, legendary actor Noel Purcell

 

The pungent smell of greasepaint filled the heavy indoor air, as I heard a knock on the dressingroom door. The glissando of the tuning orchestra was permeating my ears through the tannoy speaker.

“Will you hold on to me in the finale darlin’ the ol’ pins need support.” The distinctive mellow voice, and the knocking knuckles, belonged to the famous stage and screen actor Noel Purcell.

We were appearing at he Gaiety Theatre in a theatrical production. I was honoured to oblige. Working and touring with Noel was a pleasure. One thing was for certain, after the overture, when the curtains opened and he became visible to the audience night after night, a gasp of recognition could be heard. After the curtain closed, without fail, there was an immediate standing ovation. Such accolades are seldom.

At that stage of his long career, Noel had done it all. He had appeared in Captain Boycott, Shake Hands with the Devil and of course, Mutiny on the Bounty with Marlon Brando and Richard Harris.

In my local cinema, I remember leading the cheers of pride when he stole every scene, in my opinion, when I was watching with my pals from school. And when I got home, whispering to my mum “I’d love to meet him, that smile could detonate any misery embedded in the world”.

I was so proud of him, and so when I saw his name on the cast list on day one of the Noel Pearson production in which I had recently won a role, I couldn’t wait to meet him and tell him I had followed his career for decades.

With the great demands of appearances and publicity photo calls in that Gaiety Theatre production, I quite often retired to the sanctuary of the Green Room in the theatre. It’s the place where artists go to ‘get away from it all’ for a precious few moments between appearances.

It’s green because – as God himself reveals to us with the arrival of every season – green is proven to be the most relaxing colour for those with a challenging artistic job to do. Between the matinee and the night show,

I went there many times to escape the cocktail of busyness to be found in the chorus dressing room, which was my temporary city centre home for the duration of the run.

Continue reading in this week’s Ireland’s Own