Liam O'Leary - archivist, actor, film maker, historian, campaigner and author - died on 15th December 1992. The great consolation is that Liam had never given up, working with inordinate energy and enthusiasm until the end. He had, as his friend and student Kevin Brownlow suggested, "achieved practically everything he set out to achieve" - and probably more.

Liam was born in Youghal in 1910, the same year, he liked to point out, that the Kalem Company came to Ireland from the United States to make Ireland's first fiction films; films such as Rory O'More which, incidentally, Liam was to later find and rescue for preservation.

In 1934 Liam founded the Dublin Little Theatre Guild, Dublin's first theatre workshop and, in an effort to explore German expressionist acting techniques, began to screen 9.5mm films. From these modest beginnings in a grocer's shop in St Stephen's Green evolved the Irish Film Society. The Society, founded in 1936, fostered a critical film appreciation in many thousands of Irish cinema-goers and, through its school of Film Techniques, laid a firm foundation for the careers of a generation of film makers.

Liam's friends of recent years, who are witnesses to his working habits, would not raise an eyebrow at his vigour as a younger man. Liam's boundless energy allowed him to work full-time as a civil servant while acting as the Film Society's Director/Secretary; directing Fishing School and Aiseirghe; establishing (and teaching) at the first Irish Film School within the Society; acting, directing and producing plays for radio and the stage; and spending some time in 1946 as a producer in the Abbey Theatre.

Liam's free-lance career began in 1944, writing, acting in and directing radio and film projects. In 1945 he wrote "Invitation to the Film", an exploration of cinema and Ireland's experience of it. He acted in two films made by his great friend and Film Society colleague, Brendan Stafford: A Stranger at My Door (also known as At a Dublin Inn, 1946), where he played a gangster, and Men Against the Sun (1952), in which he played a priest in Kenya. There were also a number of, sometimes surprising, appearances in other smaller productions - an engineer in The Promise of Barty O'Brien; a concert-goer in A Nation Once Again; the father in Kevin Brownlow's The Capture; the old man in the pub in Hugh Linehan's Red and Green. His most interesting performance was, undoubtedly, as himself in Donald Taylor Black's award-winning tribute to him - At the Cinema Palace.

In 1948 Liam moved behind the camera to direct the grittiest documentary yet made in Ireland. Our Country exposed the realities of poverty, emigration and hardship in Ireland resulting, it suggested, from sixteen years of poor government. The film was a successful election tool for the party which would later appoint Liam member of Ireland's first Cultural Relations Committee. In 1950 the Cultural Relations Committee embarked on a series of film projects, the third of which, Portrait of Dublin, was directed by Liam in 1952. It is a fine lyrical study of Georgian Dublin. Unfortunately, due to an unfavourable political climate, the film was never released.

It was in 1953 that Liam broadened his horizons and moved to take up the position of Acquisitions Officer for the National Film Archive in London. The Archive's broad-ranging acquisition policy combined with Liam's knowledge, passion and frequent disregard for bureaucracy ensured that the next thirteen years were rich ones for the acquisitions department.

When Liam assumed responsibility for programming the Film Theatre's Archive Nights, his love of the silent era was given free rein. His audiences, as Kevin Brownlow recalls, were treated to screenings of very rare, sometimes original, nitrate films. It was thanks to an introduction from Liam that Kevin met Abel Gance, a fateful meeting which led to the restoration of Napoleon and its marriage to a new Carl Davis score. This was the first in a series which was to bring "silent" cinema to modern audiences.

The latest in this series is The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Its restoration by Kevin Brownlow was prompted by Liam, who had carried a life-long admiration for Rex Ingram - "probably Ireland's greatest contribution to the art of film". Liam's fascination with Ingram led him, after ten years of research, to write the biography which is due to be re-printed in English and Italian later this year. One can only regret that Liam died shortly before he was to see the fruition of his work to celebrate 1993, Ingram's centenary year.
In 1966 Liam returned to Ireland and took up a position as film viewer for RTE. In his spare time he continued his writing and research on world cinema and, in 1976, he was approached by the Dublin Arts Festival to co-ordinate an exhibition about cinema in Ireland. He gathered together artefacts from private collectors, film makers and foreign archives to chart the history of Irish cinema. This became the impetus for the creation, in 1978, of the Liam O'Leary Film Archives - a central repository for photographs, documents, posters, programmes and a vast collection of taped interviews with Irish cinema figures. Its home, until recently, was Liam's apartment! It is a wonderful collection, full of treasures which give testament not only to Liam's wide knowledge of Irish cinema but, also, to the great regard in which he was held by all those who donated material to his archives. The documents are now housed in the National Library. The film material has been bequeathed to the Irish Film Archive.

In his "retirement" Liam carried on the business of archiving and continued to write prolifically. He acted as contributor and adviser to the monumental "St James Press Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers". He was a constant and generous supporter of archival programmes and exhibitions.

Liam's energy was astounding. While working on all these projects and dealing with vast numbers of queries from around the world, he had also been working on a three-volume history of Irish Cinema which was meant to cover artistic developments from 1896 to 1916; 1916 to 1935; and 1935 to the present day. Sadly this "opus magnum" remains unfinished.

On the 29th of April 1991, after many years of campaigning towards the establishment of an archival facility, Liam finally laid the foundation stone for the Irish Film Archive. Its completion, and the opening of the Irish Film Centre on the 25th of September 1992, coincided with Liam's 82nd birthday. Although recovering from a major operation and reserving his energies for the Silent Film Festival at Pordenone which he attended in October 1992 (his second visit to Italy; earlier in the year he had acted as President of the Jury at the Pescara Film Festival), he made a brief but welcome appearance at the Centre's opening. It was, he said, the best birthday present he could receive.

Liam's "Invitation to the Film" opens with the following words: "This is the beginning of an adventure. The Cinema is all about us". His life and his work were infused with this marvellous sense of joy and adventure. And, not just for film. Fond memories abound - his great and often scathing sense of humour; invitations to tea and cake; enlightening and unsolicited lectures about the classics of silent cinema; his soirées; his year-round swims in the chilly waters of the Irish Sea.

Professionally, we are enormously grateful for his life's work, and will do our best to meet the challenge of his passing. Personally, I feel very privileged to have known him, and greatly saddened by his death.

Sunniva O'Flynn