Location: Lombard Street

Anna Manahan

Summary

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Anna Manahan, actress, Tony award winner, and Doctor of Letters (D.Litt), was born in Waterford on the 18th of October 1924.  Her career of almost sixty years began in the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin, where she worked with many famous names including Micheál MacLiammóir and Hilton Edwards, and thus assured her a place in the Irish theatrical hall of fame from an early age. 

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This eventually led her before the British television audience from the 1960’s to the 80’s.  She was at home on either stage or screen, but in spite of her undoubted success on screens both big and small, Anna was a stage actress first and foremost.  A charming, even seductive presence, she was a superb interpreter of the works of many Irish and international authors.  She was incapable of retirement.  She just kept going on. 

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She was a child of Waterford – a badge she wore with honour and pride her entire life.  She received the freedom of the city in 2002.  After a life lived in Dublin and across the vast world of entertainment from the West End to Broadway, she returned to her native city in later years, although she might have agreed that she never left.

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Anna Manahan’s Blue Plaque was erected on 3, Lombard Street in January 2016.