Anna Manahan, the Irish actress who played the monstrous mother Mag in Broadway's "The Beauty Queen of Leenane," passed away at the age of 84. For playing the brutish, hateful, selfish mother who thwarts her spinster daughter's chance at happiness, in Martin McDonagh's first play, Beauty Queen, she won a 1998 Tony as Best Featured Actress. The late-career award gave hope to older actresses everywhere. Ms. Manahan, one of Ireland's leading actresses, had been with "Beauty Queen" since its first developmental stages. Ms. Manahan was also Tony nominated as Best Featured Actress in a Play for her work in the 1968 Broadway production of Brian Friel's "Lovers."

Ms. Manahan appeared Off-Broadway in The Machine Theatre Company production of John B. Keane's two-actor play "The Matchmaker," and in Declan Hassett's "Sisters," a solo-actress play written specifically for Ms. Manahan.

Ms. Manahan studied at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin. She worked with famous Irish theatre figures, including Michael MacLiammoir and Hilton Edwards at The Gate. She has many film and TV credits ("The Riordans," "The Irish RM" and "Fair City").

Ms. Manahan, recently, was an advocate for the rights of elderly people and was involved with the group Active Retirement Ireland.

Source: Playbill.com