Ray McAnally
Ray McAnally (30 March 1926 – 15 June 1989) was an Irish actor known for his work on stage, TV, and film. He was born in Buncrana, County Donegal, and grew up in Moville. After a brief spell at Maynooth College, he pursued acting and joined the Abbey Theatre in 1947, where he met actress Ronnie Masterson. They later married and formed Old Quay Productions, staging classic plays in the 1960s and 1970s.
McAnally appeared on television in popular series like The Avengers, Man in a Suitcase, and Strange Report, and he played the title character in Spindoe in 1968. He also acted in Crown Court in 1976 and in the Jack the Ripper miniseries in 1988.
In film and television awards, he earned three BAFTA honors in the late 1980s: Best Supporting Actor for The Mission (1986) and for My Left Foot (1989), and Best Actor for A Very British Coup (1989). He received a posthumous BAFTA for My Left Foot in 1990.
McAnally died of a heart attack on 15 June 1989 at age 63 in County Wicklow. He and Masterson had four children: Conor, Aonghus, Máire, and Niamh. He is remembered as one of Ireland’s great film actors and was ranked 34th on The Irish Times’ list of Ireland’s greatest film actors in 2020.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 11:52 (CET).