[{"node":{"title":"Boyd074","Collections":"Boyd Letters","Contributor":"Boyd Estate","Coverage":"1976 Jan 22nd","Creator":"Linen Hall Library","Date":"Wednesday, March 16, 2016","Format":"TIFF","Identifier":"Boyd074","Item Description":"Letter","Keywords":"Brian Friel, Joseph Tomelty, Louis MacNeice","Language":"English","Path":"https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/content/boyd074","Publisher":"Linen Hall Library","Relation":"Linen Hall Library","Rights":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA","Scanned image":{"src":"https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/sites/default/files/Boyd074_1.jpg","alt":""},"Source":"LHL Archive","Transcript":"\ufeff22nd January 1976\n\nProfessor John Braidwood,\nDepartment of English,\nThe Queen\u2019s University,\nBelfast 9.\n\nDear John,\n\nI don\u2019t really tnink I'm the best person to help with your citation for Harold\nGoldblatt, but I'll do what I can. I've never been a close personal friend of his,\nthough I've known him professionally for many years.\n\nHe was one of the three founders of the Ulster Group Theatre. Rhe other two being\nJames Mageean (BBC Drama producer) and Robert McCandless (one of Ulster's outstanding\nactors). H.G. was not only an administrator, he was also a director (to use the\nmodern term for producer) and a leading actor. Under his aegis the Group was\nextremely successful: premieres by dramatists such as George Shields, St.John Ervine,\nBrian Friel, Joseph Tomelty, Louis MacNeice, Michael J. Murphy, Patricia Connor,\nand many other Ulster dramatists were given. H. G. also brought together a\nprofessional team of actors unique in the history of Ulster drama. These include\nColin Blakley (now with the National Theatre in London), Stephen Boyd (the holywood\n'star'), Elizabeth Begley, Margaret D'Arcy, Robert McCandless, J. G. Devlin,\nJoseph Tomelty, and many others.\n\nH.G. himself is a distinguished and versatile actor who has had success in the\ntheatre, in radio, on television, and in films. As a stage actor he has appeared\nall over Ireland and England (including the West End of London); he has acted in\nthousands of radio programmes; appeared over a hundred times in television; and has\nhad parts in over forty films, working in Ireland, England, Holland, France, Morocco,\nand Yugo-Slavia.\n\nH.G. is also very interested in the Amateur Theatre movement, having acted as\nadjudicator in festivals throughout Ireland. He has close links with Queen's.\nProfessor H. 0. Meredith encouraged him to found the Group Theatre , and Sir Tyrone\nGuthrie was not only a close friend but also a colleague (Sir Tyrone produced plays\nfor H.G. ana also directed him in poetry and short story readings).\n\n- 1 -\n","Type":"Text"}}]