Oscar Profile #642: Brendan Gleeson

Born March 29, 1955 in Dublin, Ireland, Brendan Gleeson was an avid reader as a child, a fiddle player, and an actor/teacher since his college graduation. He was, in fact, a full-time teacher for ten years before giving up the profession to concentrate on acting.

Gleeson married his wife Mary in 1982 with whom he has four sons, two of whom, Dohmnall and Brian, are also actors. He gave up teaching to become a full-time actor in 1991.

The actor made his film debut in 1990’s The Field for which star Richard Harris received an Oscar nomination. He subsequently appeared in 1992’s Far and Away with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman and Into the West with Gabriel Byrne and Ellen Barkin. In 1995 he played Mel Gibson’s righthand man in the Oscar-winning Braveheart. In 1996 he had a major supporting role in Michael Collins for which Liam Neeson and Alan Rickman received awards recognition. He played a priest in Neil Jordan’s award-winning 1997 film, The Butcher Boy.

Gleeson received awards recognition for himself with 1998’s The General for which he won the Boston Society of Film Critics award, among others, for his portrayal of a notorious real-life Irish gangster. Since then, he has alternated starring roles with supporting ones. He was supporting in 2001’s The Tailor of Panama and A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, 2002’s 28 Days Later and Gangs of New York, 2003’s Cold Mountain, 2004’s Troy, 2005’s Kingdom of Heaven, Life on Pluto, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and 2007’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix among many others.

In 2008, Gleeson starred opposite Colin Farrell in Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor, among others. His portrayal of Winston Churchill in the 2009 TV movie opposite Janet McTeer earned him an Emmy. In 2011, he was directed by Martin McDonagh’s brother John Michael in the buddy cop comedy, The Guard opposite Don Cheadle for which he received further awards recognition. That same year he appeared in a supporting role in Albert Nobbs for which Glenn Close and Janet McTeer received Oscar nominations.

Gleeson had his strongest lead role to date as the priest who is told in the confessional that he has one week to live from kis presumed killer in 2014’s Calvary for which he won further awards recognition.

Once again in supporting roles, in recent years the actor has appeared in such films as 2015’s Suffragette and In the Heart of the Sea, 2017’s Paddington 2, 2018’s The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, and 2021’s The Ballad of Macbeth.

Reunited with Colin Farrell and Martin McDonagh for 2022’s The Banshees of Insherin, Gleeson was at long last nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his co-starring role. Up next: Joker: Folie a Deux with Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga.

The ever-busy Brendan Gleeson is now 68.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

BRAVEHEART, directed by Mel Gibson (1995)

Nominated for 10 Oscars, and winner of 5 for Best Picture, Director, Cinematography, Sound Effects and Makeup for this historically inaccurate drama about Scottish warrior William “Braveheart” Wallace gave Gleeson a strong supporting role as star Gibson’s lifelong friend and right hand. Also featured in the cast were Patrick McGoohan as Edward I, Catherine McCormack as Gibson’s wife, James Coscmo as Gleeson’s son, Peter Hanly as prince Edward, Sophie Marceau as Princess Isabelle, Angus Macfayden as Robert the Bruce, Brian Cox, Ian Bannen, and Alan Armstrong.

THE GENERAL, directed by John Boorman (1998)

Gleeson received his first awards attention for his portrayal of the notorious Irish criminal Martin Cahill nicknamed The General. Portrayed as a lovable rogue in the film, the real-life Cahill was a violent criminal who shot and tortured anyone who crossed him. He was feared by the upper and middle classes but admired by the working-class people. He was one of six others, all of whom were criminals. This was one of four films made about him. He was also played by Ken Stott in The Vicious Circle, Kevin Spacey Ordinary Decent Criminal, and Pete Postlethwaite in When the Sky Falls.

IN BRUGES, directed by Martin McDonagh (2008)

McDonagh, already an Oscar winner for the 2006 short subject, Six Shooter, received his first Oscar nomination for Original Screenplay for which he received numerous awards recognition for his direction. Colin Farrell and Gleeson in their first pairing were both nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actor – Comedy, which Farrell won. The two play Irish hitmen who are assigned to a job in Bruges, Belgium at Christmas time when they would rather be home. Ralph Fiennes also received awards recognition for his portrayal of their brutal boss in this very dark comedy.

CALVARY, directed by John Michael McDonagh (2014)

Considered a dark comedy, this tale of a priest threatened with death in the confessional is powerful stuff anchored by Gleeson in his best role to date as the priest. A parishioner suffering from the trauma of childhood abuse by a now deceased priest tells the man who became a priest after the death of his wife that he is going to kill him in retribution for the other priest’s crimes. The supporting cast, uniformly excellent, includes Gleeson’s son Dohmnall (Ex Machina) as a prisoner and Kelly Reilly (TV’s Yellowstoneas Gleeson’s aggrieved daughter.

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN, directed by Martin McDonagh (2022)

Nominated for 9 Oscars including Best Picture, Director, Actor (Colin Farrell), two Supporting Actors (Gleeson, Barry Keoghan), Supporting Actress (Kerry Condon), Original Screenplay, Film Editing, and Score, all four received numerous awards for their acclaimed prformances. Set in an island off the Irish coast in the mid-1920s, Farrell and Gleeson are two old friends who have a falling out when Gleeson decides he no longer wants to be Farrell’s friend. Condon is Farrell’s no-nonsense sister and Keoghan is the town’s sad sack.