Micheál Mac Liammóir

Watch the Irish actor enact Oscar Wilde.

Micheál Mac Liammóir, an English born actor who flourished on the Irish stage — and at whose theater (Dublin’s Abbey Theatre) a teen-aged Orson Welles trod the boards long before he made a name even in radio — was one of the great stage actors of the 20th century. He is entirely unknown in the United States and my guess is that his fame even in Ireland did not last much longer than his own life. But here he performs his stage play, The Importance of Being Oscar, filmed in 1964, for you to decide for yourself.

From lights up to final curtain, this filmic experience is as close as one can ever get to meeting Wilde himself. At least, that is my impression because this actor's persuasive ability is so skilled, so subtle that every facet of character is a polished diamond of character. His resonant clear voice is a great beauty in itself, employed with matchless skill, with perfect diction and its own music. With that voice, he expresses an intelligence and wit that few in our own age can match, even as he uses the movement of the body to enact character down to the graceful moments of the actor's fingers.

There are no special effects, no music, no action and props are sparse because none of it is needed, other than the actor. Fortunately, his stage play was taped for a television audience, so that we might also watch his performance 60 years later.