Maria Doyle Kennedy is an Irish folk singer first, and that’s how she got into acting with a role in the fantastic indie flick The Commitments (1991). She proceeded to get small roles in movies and TV including historical costume roles. But music continues to be her passion, and she’s released over a dozen albums as either a solo artist or with The Black Velvet Band. Who knows if we’ll see her in a few more frock flicks?
Christine in Miss Julie (1999)
Queen Catherine of Aragon in The Tudors (2007-8 & 2010)
Mary in Albert Nobbs (2011)
Vera Bates in Downton Abbey (2011)
Muriel Batley in Titanic (2012)
Attracta in Call the Midwife (2015)
Jocasta Cameron in Outlander (2018-22)
Have you noticed Maria Doyle Kennedy in historical costume movies & TV shows?
(For some reason, your posts are no longer showing up in my feed… so I can’t comment with my wp account since it won’t log me in remotely. Oh well.)
I credit MDK for launching my obsession with Katharine of Aragon. Before her, I was all about Anne Boleyn, but she ripped my heart out, stomped on it, and was so elegant and amazing in The Tudors, I climbed aboard the RMS KoA and never got off. She was much too tall, way too dark-haired, and twenty years older than she should have been, but I still watch season one from time to time primarily for her! (I was so pissed that they downplayed her so much in season two; I MISSED her.)
Beyond that, she was fantastic in Outlander.
We’ve added a bunch of security to try & deal w/the hacking, but it’s unfortunately making everything else harder :( Working on it…
Maybe it’s just a day late in showing up on my feed, because it’s here now and I can respond to it.
You got hacked?! I’m sorry, that’s awful!
I’m reasonably sure the lovely MDK is a good 25-33% of the reason I have never, ever been able to think of Anne Boleyn as ‘Queen Anne’ (Despite my equally-abiding crush on Ms. Natalie Dormer).
If they had persuaded Ms. Kennedy to wear her hair red, I might have done something REALLY desperate, like restart the Wars of Religion or assassinate Mr Jonathan Rhys-Meyers …
I want that chair!
Stunning, isn’t it???
My Mom has one but with different Upholstery. It is the one I like to sit in when I visit her.
MDK herself might have made a good Anne Boleyn. (And I am still rooting for Rooney Mara as Anne.)
She was great as Katherine of Aragon. She played the part well as a woman who believed herself to be the true and rightful queen to the end of her life. This isn’t really on-topic, but I have to wonder who Mary favored–since paintings of Katherine don’t resemble Mary in any way, and neither does Henry VIII.
She was absolutely fabulous in Downton Abbey, but Vera Bates wasn’t murdered….