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Brefni O'Rorke (26 June 1889 – 11 November 1946) was an Irish film actor. He began studying acting with his mother, the actress Jane O'Rorke née Morgan who was born in 1858, and there was a brother, Frederic, twelve years old than him.He made his professional début in 1912 at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin in a production of Shaw's John Bull's Other Island.While still living in Dublin, he met and married in 1916 Alice Cole, a chorus-girl turned actress, who had divorced her first husband and immigrated from South Africa with her young son. Thus O'Rorke became the stepfather of Cyril Cusack.
In 1939 he appeared in several broadcasts in the new fledgling BBC television broadcast, including a play by Irish playwright Teresa Deevy called The King of Spain's Daughter, and produced by Denis Johnston.
Partial filmography
- The Ghost of St. Michael's (1941) – Sergeant MacFarlane
- This Man Is Dangerous (1941) – Dr Crosbie
- Love on the Dole (1941) – Dole Officer (uncredited)
- Cottage to Let (1941) – Scottish Police Inspector (uncredited)
- Jeannie (1941) – Quarantine Officer
- The Black Sheep of Whitehall (1942) – Ministry receptionist (uncredited)
- Hatter's Castle (1942) – Foyle
- The Missing Million (1942) – Coleman
- The Next of Kin (1942) – Brigadier Blunt
- The Day Will Dawn (1942) – Political journalist
- They Flew Alone (1942) – Mac
- Unpublished Story (1942) – Denton
- The First of the Few (1942) – Specialist
- Secret Mission (1942) – Father Jouvet
- Much Too Shy (1942) – Mr Somers
- King Arthur Was a Gentleman (1942) – Colonel Duncannon
- We'll Meet Again (1943) – Dr Drake
- Tomorrow We Live (1943) – Moreau
- The Flemish Farm (1943) – Minister
- Escape to Danger (1943) – Security Officer
- They Met in the Dark (1943) – Detective Inspector Burrows
- The Lamp Still Burns (1943) – Mr Lorrimer
- The Hundred Pound Window (1944) – Kennedy
- Tawny Pipit (1944) – Uncle Arthur
- It Happened One Sunday (1944) – Engineer
- Don't Take It to Heart (1944) – Lord Chaunduyt
- Men of Rochdale (1944) – Miles Ashworth
- Twilight Hour (1945) – Richard Melville
- They Were Sisters (1945) – Coroner
- Waltz Time (1945) – Emperor
- Perfect Strangers (1945) – Mr Hargrove
- Murder in Reverse (1945) – Sullivan
- The Rake's Progress (1945) – Bromhead
- The Voice Within (1945) – Sergeant Sullivan
- I See a Dark Stranger (1946) – Michael O'Callaghan
posthumous complete: - The Root of All Evil (1947) – Farnish
- Green Fingers (1947) – Coroner
- The Upturned Glass (1947) – Dr Farrell
- Jassy (1947) – Fielding, footman (uncredited) (final film role)
Television
National Television started in October 1936, initially broadcast just two hours a day.National Television stopped broadcast at the start of the War, and didn't restart until 1946.
"Plays" (like everything else) could last just one hour maximum, but some were only 25 minutes long.Also, there was no recording possible, so any repeat was really a new broadcast (as in The Advantages of Paternity).
Dramas
| • | The King of Spain's Daughter | (25 Feb 1939) | ||
| Writer | Teresa Deevy | |||
| Producer | Denis Johnston | |||
| Annie Kinsella | Phyllis Ryan | |||
| Peter Kinsella | Brefni O'Rorke | |||
| Mrs Marks | Ann Clery | |||
| Jim Harris | Patrick Boxill | |||
| Roddy Mann | Tony Quinn | |||
| • | The Advantages of Paternity | (12 May 1939) | ||
| A comedy by Horton Giddy. | ||||
| Author | Horton Giddy | |||
| Producer | Denis Johnston | |||
| General Yagunin | Brefni O'Rorke | |||
| Colonel Ilyitch | Frank Thornton-Bassett | |||
| Brunov | Erik Chitty | |||
| Orderly | Stuart Latham | |||
| • | Good Morning, Bill! | (4 Jun 1939) | ||
| A comedy by P.G. Wodehouse. | ||||
| Author | P. G. Wodehouse | |||
| Producer | Royston Morley | |||
| Bill | Peter Haddon | |||
| Lord Tidmouth | Michael Shipley | |||
| Sir Hugo Drake | Brefni O'Rorke | |||
Others
| • | Death at Newton-Stewart | (3 Feb 1939) | ||
| A reconstruction of an unparalleled murder of the 'seventies [1870s], extracted from the records of the Ulster Assizes. | ||||
| Producer | Denis Johnston | |||
| ||||
| • | The Parnell Commission | (18 Jul 1939) | ||
| A reconstruction of the famous forgery investigation of 1888–89 | ||||
| Producer | Denis Johnston | |||
| Piggott | Eliot Makeham | |||
| Sir Charles Russel | Felix Aylmer | |||
| Parnell | Mark Dignam | |||
| Attorney General | Wilfrid Walter | |||
| Eye Witness | Brefni O'Rorke | |||
| Mrs O'Shea | Olga Edwardes | |||
| President of the Court | Graveley Edwards | |||
| Timothy Harrington | Blake Giffard | |||
| Doctor Maguire | Nigel Fitzgerald | |||
| Henniker Heaton | Lionel Dymoke | |||
| Frank Hugh O'Donnell | Harry Hutchinson | |||
| Court Registrar | Leo McCabe | |||
| Captain O'Shea | Charles Oliver | |||
| Friend | Micheline Patton | |||
| Servant at Eltham | Moya Devlin | |||
| Solicitor's Clerk | Russell Hogarth | |||
| Spanish Policeman | Rafael Terry | |||
| Reporter Houston's Voice | Kenneth Barton | |||
| [Actor] | Jack Clifford | |||