Moira Deady

Who was Moira Deady?

Moira Deady was an Irish actress. She starred as Mary Riordan in The Riordans from 1965 until it was axed in 1979, before appearing as Nellie Connors in Glenroe. Mary Riordan was considered "the quintessential Irish mammy" - Irish Independent/The Irish Times. She played Mrs Coffey in The Irish R.M. She had roles in such films as This Is My Father and Angela's Ashes.

Raised in Kinsale, County Cork, she later resided in Greystones, County Wicklow. She began acting by travelling around Ireland as part of fit-ups.

She married fellow actor Johnny Hoey. He predeceased her, though three daughters and one son were still alive at the time of her own death in 2010. Fans often thought she was married in real life to actor John Cowley who played "Tom Riordan", her husband in The Riordans and were sometimes upset seeing her with her real-life husband.

In 2009, she reunited with the cast members of The Riordans for an RTÉ documentary on the programme. rural drama series, The Riordans. She was one of a small number of Riordans actors to work on both its successor series Bracken and Glenroe.