Byrne takes the weather with him
Hollywood star retains Irish quirks
HE has been a bona fide Hollywood star for more than two decades. But Dublin-born actor Gabriel Byrne says he retains many of the quirks that make him Irish. Byrne, 67, who became a father for the third time earlier this year, even chats about the weather as he negotiates life in Maine, where he has a home with his second wife Hannah Beth King.
‘I say to people, “That’s a beautiful day”,’ Byrne said this week. ‘And they’re kind of going, “Yeah, it is… why would you be remarking on it?”’
He has turned to his Irish heritage for a new RTÉ documentary that traces the life of George Bernard Shaw – the forgotten man of Irish literature, onetime teacher Byrne believes.
‘His birthplace in Dublin is closed to the public,’ Byrne said of Shaw, the first man to win an Oscar and a Nobel Peace Prize.
‘People around the city know his name but perhaps not much else.’
The documentary, which airs on RTÉ One on Wednesday at 9pm, explores Shaw’s role as a champion of women’s rights and advocate for children born into poverty in Dublin in the early 20th century. Byrne, who visited Shaw’s old school on Marlborough Street in Dublin 1, said he would like to see Shaw’s legacy of questioning the status quo introduced into Irish classrooms.
The Usual Suspects star is determined that his own children will have a rounded sense of Irish culture, he says. Byrne has a baby daughter with wife Hannah Beth, and two adult sons, Jack and Romy, with his first wife, actress Ellen Barkin.
‘I taught my kids Irish music, Irish history because I want them to know where they come from. They’re not just American kids but they are in a long line going back hundreds of years,’ he said.