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Dateline: 9th March, 2003 An Evening’s Entertainment: Declan’s Big Gala Night What has become an annual event, a charity performance to raise money for the Declan Mulholland Trust, will take place on Sunday, March 16th, at the Theatro Technis, 26 Crowndale Road NW1 (nearest tube Mornington Crescent), starting at 7 p.m., bar opens at 6 p.m. Admission is £10, concessions £5, tickets at the door.
Appearing at “An Evening’s Entertainment: Declan’s Big Gala Night” are many well-known actors: Larry Dann (Sgt Alec Peters in The Bill), Jimmy Ellis (Sgt Lynch in Z Cars), Alan Ford, Michael Loughnan, John Lyons, Phyllis McMahon, Murray Melvin, Eileen Pollock, Dudley Sutton, with.Colin Sell on the piano. All are freely donating their time. Other actors and musicians will also appear. Declan Mulholland, who died in 1999, is best known for being the first Jabba the Hutt in Star Wars.
He was a big man with a big heart, and many well-known actors considered him a personal friend, particularly Peter O’Toole, Bob Hoskins, and Sir Michael Gambon.
He appeared in character parts in thirteen films, including Charge of the Light Brigade, Damn the Defiant!, and Time Bandits. He also appeared on TV in Dr Who, Lovejoy, One by One, Quatermass and The Avengers.
As a legacy to encouraging a new generation of actors, especially people considering a career move into acting, in his will he left the residuals that come in from his work to help them train. The money goes to the Declan Mulholland Trust, set up for this purpose.
He worked with well-known names or legends such as Sir Alec Guinness, Dirk Bogarde, James Robertson Justice, John Gielgud, Trevor Howard, Jeanne Moreau, Zero Mostel, Anthony Quayle, Arthur Lowe, Alastair Sim, Harry Andrews, Robert Morley, Jack Hawkins, Eric Sykes, Joan Hickson, Denis Price, Diana Dors, Vincent Price, Diana Rigg, John Cleese, Sean Connery, Sir Ralph Richardson, Michael Palin, Peter Vaughan, Jack Palance, Bernard Breslaw, Annette Crosbie, Emma Thompson, Rowan Atkinson, Anna Massey, Sir Michael Horden, Richard Harris, Omar Sharif, John Wayne, and Albert Finney.
Born in Belfast, he was a carpenter by trade, and learned the art of acting at the radically socially aware Unity Theatre in Somers Town in the 1950s. Joan Littlewood spotted his talent and his career then took off. Like many actors, there were lean periods but unlike most, he always had his carpentry trade to fall back on.
Those who knew him could always rely on having a good time in his presence, especially with his fund of jokes, often scurrilous and sometimes involving nuns. An Irish upbringing tends to reveal itself in life, but in many different ways….
For all enquiries please contact: Dr. Kevin Bucknall - 0207 722 7085 - kevin@bucknall.gioserve.com Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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