Helena Carroll

Who was Helena Carroll?

Helena Winifred Carroll was a veteran film, television and stage actress. Born to clothing designer Helena Reilly and Abbey Theatre playwright Paul Vincent Carroll, she was the youngest of three sisters. Her elder sisters were Theresa Elizabeth Perez, a classically trained musician and the producer/founder of the People's Pops Concerts in Phoenix, Arizona, and journalist Kathleen Moira Carroll.

Miss Carroll attended Clerkhill Notre Dame High School, a Roman Catholic convent school in Dumbarton. She received her training at the Central School which later became the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art London, appearing in three plays in London's West End and a film, Midnight Episode, by age 20. She made her Broadway debut in Separate Tables by Terence Rattigan. She moved to the U.S. during the 1950s, touring and performing on Broadway and co-founded, with Dermot McNamara, The Irish Players, a repertory theater company in Manhattan.

At the dawn of television, Miss Carroll played the leading role of Nora, in a television production of her father's play, The White Steed, directed by Joe Gisterak.