Daragh O’Malley

Daragh O’Malley. Sergeant Patrick Harper. The two are indivisible. Much like the whole of Ireland itself.  Daragh O’Malley took the Irish Sergeant from Donegal created by Bernard Cornwell and gave life to him, fleshing out the blend of brute strength, keen heart and devilish wit, all tinged with a sense of the spiritual that only a true Irishman can master.

Ask Sharpe who he would most like to have by his side in a fight and the answer will be Patrick Harper.  Ask fans of the Sharpe Series and they’ll quickly give you the same answer. Everyone knows that a man like Harper can be depended upon.  And much like his alter ego, Daragh O’Malley can be depended upon in times of trouble, when a trusted friend is needed most. Now the world is beginning to know that kind of dedication to a friend, a belief, and a cause with his work with the charity organization that he created; The Sharpe’s Children Foundation.

Sharpe Pointe is privileged to bring you an open, candid interview with the

one and only Daragh O’Malley 

Where were you born; did you move often?  Tell us about your education by Jesuit and Carmelite monks.

I was born in Dublin, Ireland but grew up in Limerick in the South West of Ireland. My first school was Mary Hanley’s kindergarten school in Limerick, which I have happy memories of. Then I went to St. Philomenas prep school where I was taught by nuns. Then Crescent College, a Jesuit school, - I was there until my father died when I was 14. Boarding school in Dublin followed, followed by Terenure College, which was run by Carmelite monks. The Carmelites were lovely people and I had a very happy time with them. I played a lot of rugby and soccer and was the lead in all the school plays at Terenure College – incredibly, five of the cast in our school production of RICHARD THE THIRD went on to be professional actors and are still working in the business to this day.

I had a very happy childhood and was always active and full of ideas. I had a newspaper, The Sunville Times, which was a freebie which I distributed around the neighbourhood and which caused embarrassment to many. My mother got a carpenter, Paddy Hough, to build a stage for me in the large garage that we had – it was called The Sunville Theatre - and with my friends we used to put on two plays a year in the garage -one pantomime and one straight play – the whole neighbourhood came ! On Saturday afternoons the garage became a cinema – The Sunville Cinema  ( you will have sussed now that our house was called Sunville) and local kids would come and watch Bugs Bunny and Woody Woodpecker cartoons which were screened on an 8mm projector. I charged sixpence to get in – a nice little earner !  I had two dogs, Kep and Ringo, a cat called Topsy and fourteen rabbits ! I had a busy existence !

I was also an altar boy – for years I served 7am mass every morning in The Salesian Convent which was next to our house and 8am mass in The Redemptorist Retreat House which was just up the road. I served three masses on a Sunday 7am, 8am and 11am. As an altar boy Easter Time was my busiest period – Good Friday’s were a killer as I was required  to hold a cross for five hours while hundreds of people knelt in front of me and kissed Our Lord’s feet on the cross !    

My father was a politician - I knew I did not want to be a politician-  My mother was a doctor - as it took seven years to complete medical school I knew I did not want to be a doctor either. I toyed for awhile of going for the priesthood or perhaps becoming a barrister at law because as a teenager I won lots of awards for public speaking. However, when I saw Marlon Brando in The Godfather at the Carlton Cinema in Limerick in the summer of 1971 I knew I wanted to be an actor.

Above, The Lyric Theatre, Limerick.

A few of the cinemas where Daragh spent many hours of his boyhood watching and writing his personal reviews of every film he saw during that period of his life.

Advertisement from the Royal Cinema, Limerick.

The Savoy Cinema, Limerick

To clear up any confusion I was not a Producer - I produced just one professional event ever– the Irish production of the iconic The Rocky Horror Show – While it won a slew of awards and author Richard O’Brien said it was “the sexiest production ever” of his show I lost 200k on it  - Ireland was just not ready for a show about transvestites – it still isn’t – and I called it wrong. We had a guy, The Diceman, a wonderful mime artist, advertising the show dressed in high heels and suspenders parading up and down Grafton Street in Dublin and he got nicked following public outrage and was charged with “lewd behavior” – that’s what we were up against. I lost my money but I am very proud of my production of The Rocky Horror Show and always loved its theme and mission which has been with me since my teens and is a great life sound byte –

“Don’t dream it – be it ! “

I have tried to get several film and TV projects off the ground over the years but it is a very difficult and relentlessly frustrating business. Flood Street Films, a company I started recently with my actor friend Steven Hartley, and we currently have a TV project that I think will definitely fly.

Which actors have been your inspiration, or influences?

Marlon Brando. He had it all. Timing, intention, delivery -  he gave all his characters  an ability to achieve a subtle empathy with audiences that few actors have ever managed to achieve.

To think that I would actually get to work with Brando, - in County Cork, Ireland on the ill fated film Divine Rapture - and become good friends with him was extraordinary and quite incredible.

When we got back to Los Angeles after Divine Rapture collapsed I worked with Marlon on producing a screen version of The Merchant of Venice. Marlon was due to play Shylock – the ultimate control freak playing the ultimate control freak !

Marlon was up for it and he would have made a truly amazing Shylock as I heard him read the role  - but sadly it wasn’t to be.

Worldwide you are primarily known as Sgt. Patrick Harper, but how did you first hear of the role of Patrick Harper for Sharpe?  Did you read for it?

Debbie McWilliams was the original casting director on Sharpe and she sent me for an initial audition at Celtic Films offices in London. All I remember of that day was that I was very nervous and only got through the audition with the kindness and encouragement of Cindy Winter, a real person who became a great friend and a Sharpe stalwart who worked with Celtic Films at the time. Another actor, my friend Patrick Bergin, was there that day also reading for Harper.

Sharpe and Harper always respected each other through good times and bad. If we did not respect each other, and be seen by audiences to respect each other, then Sharpe and Harper’s relationship, like all relationships, would never have worked on any level. The respect was clear cut and audiences bought into it.

What female character do you think Harper would have liked most and what character do you think Harper would have picked for Sharpe?

Harper liked Ramona most, no doubt about that….she was a loving, caring soul and although massively underused in the series, actress Diana Perez conveyed the earth mother in the character of Ramona quite brilliantly. Ramona was a fine woman.

Harper always felt Sharpe was a complete disaster with women and always picked the wrong type of women – although he would never say that to Sharpe. I don’t think Sharpe ever asked Harper for his opinion of his women. For Sharpe women seemed to fulfill a need. Sharpe was full of angst and totally godless, while Harper was God fearing.

©Dermot Hurley

Above, Donogh O’Malley, St. Patrick’s Day Parade, 1960s. Foreground, a very young Daragh with his father.

I went to drama school in London – LAMDA – when I was 18 and have worked as an actor ever since. My wife Gabrielle and I went to Los Angeles and we lived and worked in Hollywood for nine years. I have travelled the world and have taken great joy from my chosen profession. I suppose I could have done many other  things that would have ensured I enjoyed a less complicated existence that the world of acting gave me but I would have always regretted not being an actor. I lived my dream. I respect all actors so very much. I know both the highs and lows of our business only too well.

Had you ever read a Sharpe novel before getting the role of Harper?

No – I have never read a complete Sharpe novel to this day. I started to read each book as we filmed them but Bernard Cornwell’s dialogue in the books was nearly always far superior to the lines in the script that we were being asked to say and I immediately jumped up and down and wanted to change the script and use Bernard’s lines. In the end, for a quiet life, I thought it better to just put the books aside and I have never read any of them. I hope to get through them all in my old age, please God, and I look forward to that.

How did the first cast reading for Sharpe go?  What were your first impressions? 

We never had a first cast reading ! I think we only ever had two read throughs – read throughs on Sharpe were regarded as a “luvvie” thing and were really not for us. I actually suggested a read through of Sharpe’s Peril in India and I nearly got lynched – never again !