How Louis Marcus blazed a trail in the Irish film world

The grandson of Lithuanian Jewish refugees, Cork-born Louis Marcus was nominated for two Oscars and filmed the likes of Christy Ring and Muhammad Ali, writes Pet O’Connell
How Louis Marcus blazed a trail in the Irish film world

Louis Marcus, second from left, with sound recordist Peter Hunt, boxer Muhammad Ali, and Tom Sheehy of Bord Fáilte. Picture courtesy of Louis Marcus

His tipple was nothing stronger than raspberry cordial, but when Louis Marcus first stepped across the threshold of hostelries in Cork’s MacCurtain St in the 1950s, he imbibed an intoxicating cocktail of intellectual conversation and free-thinking artistic innovation.

The Leaving Certificate student at Seán Donnelly’s Glasheen Secondary School had heard about the Cork branch of the Irish Film Society from his French teacher Mary O’Connor, who regaled her pupils with selected highlights of the French films screened for members.

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