Frank Twomey: Cork theatre stalwart and former Bosco presenter has died
The late Frank Twomey on an early episode of Bosco with Mary Garrioch.
Cork-born actor, comedian, television personality and theatre producer Frank Twomey has died.
A veteran of stage and screen, the actor from Cathedral Road on the north side of the city played many roles over the course of a long and illustrious career, spanning from the 1980s to the beginning of the 2020s.
He famously satirised then-Public Enterprise Minister Mary O'Rourke on RTÉ's ; appeared on trailblazing RTÉ comedy ; and a long-time stint as a dame of The Everyman's annual Christmas pantomime endeared him to generations of families in his native city.
But perhaps the role for which he will be most fondly remembered by a generation will be his time alongside Irish children's television icon Bosco, accompanying the ever-inquisitive puppet through the eponymously-titled afternoon show's original 1980s run, and remaining visible as the repeats of the beloved show ran in the afternoons until 1998.
Speaking to The Echo in 2020, Bosco reflected fondly on Twomey's company, wit and creativity:
“Frank was very funny. Sometimes, he was so funny, that he didn't even know he was being funny himself, and you'd have to say 'Frank, that was very funny!'
“He's very good at telling stories. He used to tell me a lot of stories, and he was very good at acting poems as well. We were great friends!”
Twomey's great friend and long-time collaborator, Pakie O’Callaghan, said he had visited him the night before his death to say goodbye.
“It was obvious for the last week or so that he wasn’t going to pull through this, but he battled as he always would in every aspect of his life, so bravely, but in the end he had to succumb to this very serious, lung disease that he had contracted,” he said.
O’Callaghan described working with him as “a real privilege”.
“Every time you would meet him, you would leave with a bounce in your step,” he told the Neil Prendeville Show on RedFM.
“He had that capacity to elevate people’s mood. He grew old but never grew up.”
He recalled how as they often travelled on trains, people would approach Mr Twomey and ask him if he was guy who presented Bosco, and say, ‘You reared my young fella’.
O’Callaghan said: “He took it in good spirits but you would know that he would probably prefer if peoples’ memories were a bit shorter because it did, as these things do, impact on the remaining part of his career which was a lot more successful than many people realise.”
Prendeville also paid tribute to a man with whom he had acted with in the Everyman panto: “Frank was a super actor, very underrated, and had a wicked sense of humour.”
Very very sad to hear about the passing of Frank Twomey, my former Panto stablemate, this morning.
— Neil Prendeville (@NeilRedFM) December 11, 2023
Frank was a super actor, very underrated, and had a wicked sense of humor.
He came in to see me in studio a few years back.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis pic.twitter.com/rhnj2UcUfX
An openly gay man, Twomey's work on came with its own considerations in a more conservative era of Irish society and politics.
"They knew," he told rte.ie in a 2020 interview. I was freaked out about it because it was a different era. We're talking the '80s, and it had yet to be legalised, let alone same-sex marriage."
"...but it didn't stop me from being gay. It meant that I was careful and I was very discrete because I had a government job".
Twomey maintained a long career after filming wrapped on , not least with a recurring voice role on RTÉ's show, as part of its weekly 'Funny Fridays' segment.
His role as O'Rourke, the 'mammy' figure of the Celtic Tiger-era Fianna Fáil governments sent up by , kept him in the national spotlight on its 1999-2001 RTÉ run, with the character making guest appearances elsewhere thereafter. Twomey would later star alongside the object of his pastiche in RTÉ's 2020 advice show .
Those Bull Island connections would lead him to his next project, the stage comedies, alongside fellow cast member O'Callaghan - a trilogy of capers with their roots in a radio soap for Cork's 96FM.
Famously initially funded by a pitch on RTÉ reality show , the productions toured Ireland for five years, seeing Cork lads Finbarr and John attempting to flee the attentions of police and mafia alike while on 'holiday' in Spain in , while long-suffering wives Carmel and Noreen lived it up in sequel
As his career continued, however, Twomey openly spoke of seeking to avoid typecasting, with 2019 solo show seeing him reminisce on being 'the guy from Bosco', and reconcile with his own identity and ambitions as an actor in a new, digital age.
His connections to Cork saw him make a cameo on in 2018, where a new generation was introduced to a giant of Leeside cultural life.
Tributes from the world of Irish politics, society and culture came in across Monday afternoon.
Tánaiste Mícheál Martin posted on Twitter/X about how Twomey brought "joy to many across generations with his work on Bosco, Bull Island, Nighthawks & on stage", referring to him as "a versatile & brilliant performer".
Very sorry to hear of the passing of Frank Twomey
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) December 11, 2023
A proud Cork man, Frank brought joy to many across generations with his work on Bosco, Bull Island, Nighthawk & on stage. Renowned for his sharp wit & humour, he was a versatile & brilliant performer
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam
Joe Duffy paid tribute to Twomey on his show on Monday, describing Twomey as “a brilliant actor, comic and dear friend.”
We will be paying tribute on @rteliveline to the great Frank Twomey who unfortunately has passed away today. From Funny Friday, Bull island , and of course Bosco @rte @rtenews @thejournal_ie he was a brilliant actor comic and dear friend. R.I.P. pic.twitter.com/fDWuTtjK0V
— JOE DUFFY (@talktojoeduffy) December 11, 2023
Seán Kelly, CEO of the Everyman, where Twomey had been on stage many times, said: “We are greatly saddened to hear of the passing of Frank Twomey. A true Cork legend, he appeared on our stage many times and will be fondly remembered as the much-loved dame in The Everyman and CADA’s Christmas Panto. May he rest in peace.”
Patrick Talbot, theatre producer and former director of the Everyman, said: “Frank Twomey was a comedy genius, both as a writer and a performer. He had a rebellious anti-establishment streak in him which gave his work extraordinary energy, both on stage and television.
"He was also a very fine stage actor. I still remember his magnificent rendering of the compassionate lawyer Alfieri, in my production of Arthur Miller's at the Triskel Arts Centre. A gentle, sensitive, funny man, who will be much missed.”
Irish LGBT* activist and historian Tonie Walsh put his tribute across simply on Twitter/X, thanking Twomey for "so much fun, especially during dark times".
Frank Twomey's funeral mass will take place on Thursday, December 14, at 10am in the North Cathedral, Cork.
