Susan FitzGerald (1949 – 9 September 2013) was an Irish actress, best known for her work in television and her work in Irish theatre. She also played the role of May in Samuel Beckett's Footfalls for the Gate Theatre's Beckett on Film project. At her death she was hailed as "one of Ireland's best known stage actresses" and "the pre-eminent stage actress of her generation and beloved of theatre audiences."

Biography

Fitzgerald graduated from Trinity College in the 1970s, and since then she played leading roles in the Gate Theatre in plays by a variety of Irish and foreign writers. She is particularly known for playing May in Footfalls in the Gate's celebrated Beckett Festival in New York and London, and filmed Footfalls for the Beckett on Film project. She also worked for the Abbey Theatre, in plays such asSix Characters in Search of an Author, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Hedda Gabler. Recently[when?] at the Gate she appeared as Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest, as Mrs. Bennett in Pride and Prejudice (she reprised the role in the Spoleto Festival in Charleston) and Jane Eyre (directed by Alan Stanford), in The Eccentricities of a Nightingale, directed by Dominic Cookeand in Martin Crimp's adaptation of The Misanthrope, Pygmalion, directed by Robin Lefèvre and furthermore in The Constant Wife, directed by Alan Stanford. She also appeared in a variety of other projects in Ireland, including various plays at the Olympia Theatre.

Fitzgerald's small screen work included numerous appearances as in Fair City, Rebel Heart, Bachelor's Walk, Proof and The Big Bow Wow. In film, she appeared in Fintan Connolly The Trouble With Sex, Satellites and Meteorites and Happy Ever Afters.

Fitzgerald died, aged 64, from cancer, which she battled since May 2011. She is survived by her husband Michael and her three children, Sarah, Sophie and Richard.

Selected filmography

Film

• Happy Ever Afters - Mrs. Maguire
• Satellites & Meteorites - Angela Gore
• Trouble with Sex - Rosie
• Footfalls (short) - May
• Angela's Ashes - Sister Rita
• The Serpent's Kiss - Mistress Clevely
• A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1977) - Emma

Television

• The Big Bow Wow - Patricia
• Proof - Beatrice Cosgrove
• The Irish R.M. - Miss Longmuir