Manning, Mary (1906–1999)

views updated

Manning, Mary (1906–1999)

Irish playwright. Name variations: Mary Manning Howe; Mary Adams. Born Mary Manning, June 30, 1906, in Dublin, Ireland; died 1999 in Cambridge, MA; dau. of Fitzmaurice Manning and Susan Bennett Manning; attended Morehampton House School and Alexandra College, Dublin; studied at Abbey Acting School; m. Mark DeWolfe Howe Jr. (Harvard Law School professor), 1935 (died 1967); m. Faneuil Adams, 1980; children: (1st m.) Susan Howe (b. 1937, writer); Fanny Howe (b. 1940, writer); Helen Howe (who m. Christopher Braider).

Lived in US from 1930s and helped found Poets' Theater in Cambridge, MA; novels and plays include Storm Over Wicklow (1933), Happy Family (1934), Lovely People (1953), The Last Chronicles of Ballyfungus (1978) and Go, Lovely Rose (1989); adapted Joyce's Finnegans Wake (1955), which was filmed by Mary Ellen Bute and won prize at Cannes International Film Festival (1965).