Maureen Toal

Maureen Toal (7 September 1930 – 24 August 2012) was an Irish stage and television actress whose professional career lasted for more than sixty years.[1][2]

She was born in 1930 and was originally from Fairview, Dublin.[2] Toal began performing at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1946, when she was just sixteen years old.[1] She became a fixture at the theatre, portraying Bessie Burgess in The Plough and the Stars and the Widow Quinn in The Playboy of the Western World.[1] She also appeared in several one woman shows, including Baglady, which was written by Irish playwright Frank McGuinness.[1]

Another playwright, John B. Keane, wrote the role of Mame Fadden in his play, The Change in Mame Fadden, specifically for Toal. Hugh Leonard also penned characters in his plays A life and Great Big Blonde with the intention of casting Toal in the parts.[1] Toal was best known to Irish television audiences for her role as Teasy McDaid on RTÉ One's Glenroe during the 1990s.[1]