Deirdre O'Connell

Deirdre O'Connell (16 June 1939 – 9 June 2001) was an Irish American actress, singer, and theatre director. She founded the Focus Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, and was its manager, artistic director, and fundraiser. O'Connell studied theatre at Erwin Piscator's Dramatic Workshop and the Actors Studio run by Lee Strasberg in New York City. She later moved to Dublin, where she set up the Stanislavski Studio at the Pocket Theatre, training a small company of actors in Stanislavski's system. O'Connell was also a folk-singer and performed at the Newport Folk Festival. She was married to Irish singer Luke Kelly from 1965 to the early 1970s. O'Connell passed away from cancer.