Susan Mary Theresa Fitzgerald (28 May 1949 – 9 September 2013) was an Irish actress, best known for her work in television and her work in Irish theatre. She also played the role of May in Samuel Beckett's Footfalls for the Gate Theatre's Beckett on Film project. At her death she was hailed as "one of Ireland's best known stage actresses" and "the pre-eminent stage actress of her generation and beloved of theatre audiences."

Biography

Born in Leicester, England, Fitzgerald graduated from Trinity College in the 1970s, and thereafter played leading roles in the Gate Theatre in plays by a variety of Irish and foreign writers. She was particularly known for having played May in Footfalls in the Gate's Beckett Festival in New York and London, and filmed Footfalls for the Beckett on Film project. She also worked for the Abbey Theatre, in plays such as Six Characters in Search of an Author, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Hedda Gabler.

More recently at the Gate she appeared as Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest, as Mrs. Bennett in Pride and Prejudice (she reprised the role in the Spoleto Festival in Charleston), in Jane Eyre (directed by Alan Stanford), in The Eccentricities of a Nightingale (directed by Dominic Cooke) and in Martin Crimp's adaptation of The Misanthrope, as well as Pygmalion and The Constant Wife. She appeared in a variety of other projects in Ireland, including various plays at the Olympia Theatre.

Her television work included numerous appearances as in Fair City, Rebel Heart, Bachelor's Walk, Proof and The Big Bow Wow. She appeared in such feature films as Trouble With Sex, Satellites and Meteorites and Happy Ever Afters.