T. P. McKenna

Acting

T. P. McKenna

Born 1929-09-07 · Mullagh, County Cavan, Ireland

Born in Mullagh, County Cavan, Ireland, Thomas Patrick 'T. P.' McKenna was a distinguished character actor of film and TV and a prolific stage actor. He made his stage debut in "Summer and Smoke" by Tennessee Williams at the Pike Theatre in Dublin in 1954 and his film debut in the 1960 film The Night Fighters. Film credits included Straw Dogs, Ulysses, Perfect Friday, Villain, The Charge of the Light Brigade, Red Scorpion and Valmont, whilst his TV credits included Bleak House, Inspector Morse, Doctor Who, Casualty, Ballykissangel and Lovejoy.

Acting credits

Valmont poster
6.7

Set in Baroque France, a scheming widow and her lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman. The lover, Valmont, bets that he can seduce her, even though she is an honorable woman. If he wins, he can have his lover to do as he will. However, in the process of seducing the married woman, Valmont falls in love.

Valmont

1989

Straw Dogs poster
7.1

David Sumner, a mild-mannered academic from the United States, marries Amy, an Englishwoman. In order to escape a hectic stateside lifestyle, David and his wife relocate to the small town in rural Cornwall where Amy was raised. There, David is ostracized by the brutish men of the village, including Amy's old flame, Charlie. Eventually the taunts escalate.

Straw Dogs

1971

Red Scorpion poster
6.0

A Soviet commando is sent to eliminate a rebel leader in Africa. Soon he finds himself doubting his mission.

Red Scorpion

1988

The Doctor and the Devils poster
6.2

In Victorian England, graverobbers supply a wealthy doctor with bodies to research anatomy on, but greed causes them to seek an easier means of getting the job done.

The Doctor and the Devils

1985

The Libertine poster
5.9

The story of John Wilmot, a.k.a. the Earl of Rochester, a 17th century poet who famously drank and debauched his way to an early grave, only to earn posthumous critical acclaim for his life's work.

The Libertine

2004

Anne of the Thousand Days poster
7.1

Henry VIII of England discards his wife, Katharine of Aragon, who has failed to produce a male heir, in favor of the young and beautiful Anne Boleyn.

Anne of the Thousand Days

1969

The Scarlet and the Black poster
7.0

Fr. Hugh O'Flaherty is a Vatican official in 1943-45 who has been hiding downed pilots, escaped prisoners of war, and Italian resistance families. His activities become so large that the Nazis decide to assassinate him the next time he leaves the Vatican.

The Scarlet and the Black

1983

Longitude poster
7.4

Parallel stories: 18th century Harrison builds the marine chronometer for safe navigation at sea; 20th century Gould is obsessed with restoring it.

Longitude

2000

Miss Marple: A Caribbean Mystery poster
6.6

While on vacation at a resort hotel in the West Indies, Miss Marple correctly suspects that the apparently natural death of a retired British major is actually the work of a murderer planning yet another killing.

Miss Marple: A Caribbean Mystery

1989

The Charge of the Light Brigade poster
6.2

During the Crimean War between Britain and Russia in the 1850s, a British cavalry division, led by the overbearing Lord Cardigan, engages in an infamously reckless strategic debacle against a Russian artillery battery.

The Charge of the Light Brigade

1968

Pascali's Island poster
6.4

1908: Pascali, a spy for the Sultan, sends reports to Istanbul that nobody reads. His suspicions are roused when a British archaeologist appears, who may not be quite what he seems.

Pascali's Island

1988

Perfect Friday poster
6.2

The deputy manager of a London bank has worked out a way to rob the branch of £200,000. When he becomes involved with the attractive Lady Dorset he decides to go ahead with his plan. He needs her help and that of her philandering spendthrift husband. It all comes down to a matter of trust.

Perfect Friday

1970

Britannia Hospital poster
6.2

Britannia Hospital, an esteemed English institution, is marking its gala anniversary with a visit by the Queen Mother herself. But when investigative reporter Mick Travis arrives to cover the celebration, he finds the hospital under siege by striking workers, ruthless unions, violent demonstrators, racist aristocrats, an African cannibal dictator, and sinister human experiments.

Britannia Hospital

1982

Villain poster
6.1

In 1970s London, Scotland Yard orchestrates the downfall of mob boss Vic Dakin after he crosses the line by blackmailing Members of Parliament.

Villain

1971

Silver Dream Racer poster
5.6

Nick Freeman is a motorcycle racer who, following the death of his brother, inherits a revolutionary prototype motorcycle, and is determined to race it at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Silver Dream Racer

1980

Memed My Hawk poster
6.0

In 1920s Turkey, a young peasant is smitten with a beautiful young girl, who has been promised in marriage to the fat, dullard cousin of the province's powerful and corrupt governor. When an assassination attempt is made against the official, the young man flees his village and joins up with a group of outlaws fighting against the wealthy and powerful landowners who control the lives of the locals and make life miserable for them. The outlaws' successes prompt the governor to call in the Turkish army to capture or kill them.

Memed My Hawk

1984

The Beast in the Cellar poster
4.8

Soldiers in a rural English town are being brutally murdered by an unknown creature. Two nearby sisters realise they might understand what's happening.

The Beast in the Cellar

1971

Girl with Green Eyes poster
6.7

A naive young country girl moves to Dublin and finds herself drawn to a sophisticated author twice her age.

Girl with Green Eyes

1964

The Fifth Day of Peace poster
5.5

Based on a true story. Near the end of World War II, two German deserters are put in an Allied POW camp. When a rigid and militaristic German colonel learns about their desertion, he wants them court-martialed, even if the war is over. The uninterested Allied officers oblige him, and the two men face the firing squad on "the fifth day of peace".

The Fifth Day of Peace

1970

Lady Killer poster
6.8

A shy, lonely American girl marries a charming man she meets while on vacation in England, unaware that he has sinister plans for her.

Lady Killer

1973

The Law Lord poster
9.0

A new government takes power with a drastically reduced majority. But the ambitious young Home Secretary has a plan to bring the legal establishment to heel and bypass Parliament altogether. Anthony Andrews says of writer and barrister John Cooper (who wrote the ITV series The Advocates): "John is writing about a world he knows intimately. It is a most original and exciting screenplay and extremely prescient in view of the current controversies surrounding the judiciary." Producer Simon Passmore Director Jim Goddard

The Law Lord

1992

All Creatures Great and Small poster
6.6

James Herriot is a vet in Yorkshire, England, during the 1930s. He is assigned to the practice of Siegfried Farnon, who—together with his mischievous brother Tristan—already have a successful business. James undergoes a variety of adventures during his work, which are just as often caused by the characters of the county, including the Farnon brothers, as the animals in his care.

All Creatures Great and Small

1975

A Warm December poster
6.5

Widower Dr. Matt Younger and his daughter go to London for a month of dirt-bike racing. While there, Dr. Younger is surprised by finding himself attracted to Catherine, a charming but elusive woman who seems to have some mysterious men following her. A romance slowly develops between the doctor and Catherine, but there are complications to their happiness.

A Warm December

1973

Young Cassidy poster
6.4

In Dublin circa 1911, John Cassidy (Rod Taylor), an impoverished idealist, whose ambitions are restricted by the demands of looking after his family, journeys through the social injustices of Dublin life, involving himself with the rowdy tramway-men strike, dawdling with prostitute Daisy Battles (Julie Christie), and seeking a better life. He falls in love with bookshop assistant Nora (Dame Maggie Smith) who encourages him toward a life of writing. Finding success at the Abbey Theatre, his unorthodox views estrange him from family, friends, and his own past.

Young Cassidy

1965