- The 1980s new wave band Duran Duran was named after his character in the cult movie Barbarella (1968).
- Found little theatrical employment during his first stint in the United States and was forced to make ends meet working as an elevator operator at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. He consequently returned to Ireland where he found critical success on stage as Leopold Bloom in James Joyce's Ulysses (1967).
- Married to Irish actress Kitty Sullivan, with whom he appeared in a production of "My Fair Lady". Father of Steven O'Shea.
- Full-time actor from the age of seventeen after being heavily involved in school theatrical productions.
- Educated by the Christian Brothers at Synge Street CBS in Dublin, Ireland.
- His mother was a harpist and ballet dancer, his father half of a singing duo.
- Was twice nominated for Broadway's Tony Award: as Best Actor (Dramatic) for "Staircase" (1968) and as Best Actor (Play) for "Mass Appeal" (1982).
- Classmates with actor Donal Donnelly at Synge Street CBS.
- Received an honorary degree from Quinnipiac University in Hamden, New Haven County, Connecticut (2010).
- Following his death, he was interred at Deans Grange Cemetery in Deansgrange, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown. He passed away on April 2, 2013, two months from what would have been his 87th birthday on June 2.
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