Da Playwright Hugh Leonard Dies at 82

Hugh Leonard, author of 18 plays, including The au Pair Man, A Life and the Tony Award-winning Da, has died in Dublin. In addition to his theater work, Leonard adapted a number of classic novels for British television, including Nicholas Nickleby and Wuthering Heights, both of which earned him the Jacob’s Award. He was 82 and had been ill for some time.

Born John Keyes Byrne in 1926 in Dalkey—an Irish village that would feature prominently in his writing—Leonard was educated at the Harold Boys’ National School and Presentation College, and his first play, The Birthday Party, was produced at Ireland’s revered Abbey Theatre in 1956. Leonard’s first Broadway play, 1973’s The au Pair Man, earned his first Tony Award nomination. In 1978, he won Best Play for Da, about a man who returns home to Ireland after the death of his father. In 1980, he was nominated once more for A Life.

Da was made into a movie in 1998, starring Martin Sheen and the play's Tony-winning star Barnard Hughes.

In 1992, Leonard’s dramatic writing was collected in The Selected Plays of Hugh Leonard. He also published two collections of essays and journalism, Leonard’s Last Book and A Peculiar People and Other Foibles, as well as two autobiographical works, Home Before Night and Out After Dark. He loved cats and restaurants, and wrote a humorous monthly column for the Sunday Independent called “The Curmudgeon.”

Leonard’s first wife, Paula, died in 2000. He is survived by second wife, Kathy, and his daughter, Danielle.