Una O'Connor (actress)

Una O'Connor
Una O'Connor (right) as Mary from Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936) with (l. to r.) Henry Stephenson, Freddie Bartholomew and Dolores Costello
Born	Agnes Teresa McGlade (1880-10-23)23 October 1880 Belfast, Ireland
Died	4 February 1959(1959-02-04) (aged 78) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1911–1957

Una O'Connor (23 October 1880 – 4 February 1959) was an Irish-American actress who worked extensively in theatre before becoming a character actress in film and in television. She often portrayed comical wives, housekeepers and servants.

Born Agnes Teresa McGlade to a Catholic nationalist family in Belfast, Ireland. Although her mother died when she was two, her father was a landowner farmer, insuring that the family always had income from family land. He soon left for Australia and McGlade was brought up by an aunt, studying at St Dominic's School, Belfast, convent schools and in Paris. Thinking she would pursue teaching, she enrolled in the South Kensington School of Art.

Before taking up teaching duties, she enrolled in the Abbey School of Acting (affiliated with Dublin's Abbey Theatre). Her career with the Abbey was between 1912 - 1934 where she performed in many productions, these are listed in the Abbey Theatre Archives. She changed her name when she began her acting career with the Abbey Theatre. One her earliest appearances was in George Bernard Shaw's The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet in which she played the part of a swaggering American ranch girl. The production played in Dublin as well as in New York, opening 20 November 1911 at the Maxine Elliott Theatre, marking O'Connor's American debut.

By 1913 she was based in London where she appeared in The Magic Jug, The Starlight Express (1915-16 at the Kingsway Theatre), and Paddy the Next Best Thing. In the early 1920s she appeared as a cockey maid in Plus Fours followed in 1924 by her portrayal of a cockney waitress in Frederick Lonsdale's The Fake. In a single paragraph review, an unnamed reviewer noted "Una O'Connor's low comedy hotel maid was effectively handled." The latter show also played in New York (with O'Connor in the cast), opening 6 October 1924 at the Hudson Theatre. A review of the New York performances of The Fake recounts details of the plot, but then mentions