Stars of music, stage and screen pay tribute to Maureen Grant the doyenne of Dublin's Olympia Theatre.
In 1949 Maureen Grant was given three weeks employment as a bar girl in Dublin's Olympia Theatre. Sixty four years she is still there, and the 88 years old has no intention of retiring.
Much to her delight one of the bars in the Olympia is named Maureen’s Bar. It is decorated with dozens of framed photographs of Maureen Grant posing throughout the decades with some of the most famous people on the planet.
In one photograph the American singer songwriter Kris Kristofferson gives Maureen Grant a kiss. She speaks of him fondly,
He’s lovely, he’s very gentle, course his wife doesn’t mind sharing him with me, I’m harmless.
In recognition of her outstanding contribution to Irish entertainment the children’s charity Variety honours Maureen Grant with a Gold Heart Award. Stars such as Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, U2 and Billy Connolly pay tribute to her in a film made especially for the occasion held in Dublin’s Mansion House.
Of all the stars to grace the Olympia’s stage, the person who made the biggest impression on Maureen Grant is the Hollywood actor Tyrone Power,
You’d commit sin for him.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 7 June 2013. The reporter is Paul Colgan.
