"This is the most exciting thing that has happened to me since 1952," actor Rosaleen Linehan said as she received a special tribute award at the Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards on Sunday night.
"That was the year when - not many people know this - I was crowned Miss Donegal."
She paused and glanced back at Joe Dowling, artistic director of the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, who had presented her with the award. "Do I not get a sash and a tiara?"
Dowling, who paid tribute to Linehan's "extraordinary performances" as Feste in Twelfth Night, Kate in Dancing at Lughnasa, Kathleen Behan in Mother of All the Behans, and Rose in Gypsy, praised the actor's "discipline and attention to detail".
He added: "That great genius of comedy became, over time, one of Ireland's greatest actors,"
he said.
"Rosaleen Linehan, you are indeed a very special person, deserving of a very special award," he added, as he
presented the Dublin-born actor with the award for her contribution to Irish theatre to a standing ovation and thunderous applause.
Following on from her beauty queen revelations, Linehan waxed lyrical on what she called the "extraordinary things" that were happening in the northwest of Ireland in 1952, including the emergence of Brian Friel,
who was working in
Derry at the time, and Donegal-born Frank
McGuinness.
The actor had hopes then that her crown as Miss Donegal would influence the great
playwrights when it came to handing out
roles.
"When they came to cast their great plays, they would look down the list of RADA actors and come to . . . Miss Donegal 1952!"
In answer to a question, Linehan said she is often asked about how she managed to rear four children as a theatre actor. She provided the audience at the award ceremony with the
secret.
"Marry a writer," she said. "My advice to you all is marry a writer. Or maybe a property developer. Better still, a writer who's also a property developer."
She paused, revealing her mastery of comic timing is still very much intact.
"From what I hear, a lot of property developers have been responsible for some very creative books!"
Linehan, now 71, said she was proud to be an actor.
"I belong to a very honourable, a very important and a very worthwhile profession, and I'm very proud to be a part of it," she said, paying particular tribute to the "golden circle" of her
four children and husband, Fergus.
She finished a humorous and moving acceptance speech with the closing verse of Feste's final song from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.
"A great while ago the world begun, With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, But that's all one, our play is done, And we'll strive to please you every day."
As the last notes lingered in a hushed room, Rosaleen Linehan once again brought down the house.