{{Infobox writer | name = Kitty Mcshane | image = | caption = | birth_date = 19th May 1897 | death_date = 24 March 1964 | occupation = Actress | period = | subject = | notable_works = Old Mother Riley | awards = | website = | embed = | honorific_prefix = | honorific_suffix = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image_size = | image_upright = | landscape = | alt = | pseudonym = | birth_name = | birth_place = Dublin, Ireland | death_place = London, England | resting_place = | language = | nationality = Irish | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = | genre = | movement = | spouse = Arthur Lucan (1913-1954) | partner = Billy Bleach (?-1963) | children = Donald Daniel Towie | relatives = | signature = | signature_type = | signature_size = | signature_alt = | years_active = | module = | portaldisp = }} {{Short description|Irish actress (1897–1964)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [[File:lucan-mcshane.jpg|thumb|right|Arthur Lucan and Kitty McShane as Old Mother Riley and her daughter 'Kitty'.]]
'''Kathleen "Kitty" McShane''' (19 May 1897 – 24 March 1964) was an Irish actress, best known as the wife and acting partner of Arthur Lucan, with whom she appeared in a series of ''Old Mother Riley'' stage shows and films from the 1930s to the 1950s.<ref name="yule">{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/forgotten-british-film-moguls-lady-yule/|date=14 September 2025|access-date=14 September 2025|title=Forgotten British Film Moguls: Lady Yule}}</ref>
==Early life== '''Catherine McShane''' was born in Dublin, Ireland, the fourth of seventeen children born to Daniel and Kate McShane, of whom only seven survived to adulthood. In 1910 Arthur Lucan was touring Ireland and was playing his pantomime ''Little Red Riding Hood'' in Dublin. Here he met McShane, who successfully auditioned for a part in the show as a singer. Aged just 16 she married the 28-year-old Lucan on 25 November 1913 at the Church of St Andrews in Dublin.<ref name="lucan">{{cite web|url=http://www.peterwilkinson.karoo.net/omrkitty.htm |title=Kitty McShane |publisher=Peter Wilkinson |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081025011835/http://www.peterwilkinson.karoo.net/omrkitty.htm |archivedate=2008-10-25 }}</ref> The couple had one son, Donald Daniel Towle (2 October 1915, Dublin – 10 February 1975).
=='Old Mother Riley'== McShane and Lucan became a popular music hall and film double act during their nearly forty years together. They gradually evolved the stage characters of Old Mother Riley, with Lucan appearing in drag as Mrs Daphne Snowdrop Bluebell Riley from Dublin, and McShane playing her daughter 'Kitty Riley', whose wayward ways resulted in many of Mother Riley's amusing reactions.
McShane appeared in 14 of the 15 'Old Mother Riley' films. Lucan and McShane's marriage was difficult, with rumours of McShane's many affairs and volatile temperament, and they separated in 1951. In McShane's last film, ''Old Mother Riley's Jungle Treasure'' (1951), their scenes were filmed on separate days.<ref name = "lucan" /> McShane opened a beauty salon, which failed, and Lucan continued to support her financially.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qAhtNiAl3YsC&q=old+mother+riley+in+society&pg=PA441 |title=Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries - Paul Donnelley - Google Books |isbn=9780711995123 |accessdate=2014-02-22|last1=Donnelley |first1=Paul |year=2003 }}</ref>
Following Lucan's death in 1954, McShane continued the act with Roy Rolland in the 'Mother Riley' role, but the venture was not successful. The death of her partner, Billy Bleach, in 1963, led to McShane having serious problems with alcohol.<ref>Robert Kenny, [https://books.google.com/books?id=lBaeDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT482 ''The Man Who Was Old Mother Riley - The Lives and Films of Arthur Lucan and Kitty McShane''], University of Leicester Press (2014) - Google Books</ref><ref>Bruce Dessau, [https://books.google.com/books?id=VY67c7ziWR8C&pg=PA59 ''Beyond a Joke: Inside the Dark World of Stand-Up Comedy''], Arrow Books (2012) - Google Books pg. 59</ref>
McShane was found dead at her London home on Tuesday 24 March 1964, aged 66, from undisclosed causes.
In 1982 Alan Plater wrote a play about Arthur Lucan's life with Kitty McShane, ''On Your Way, Riley'', with songs by Alex Glasgow.<ref name="Queen’s">[http://www.queens-theatre.co.uk/archive/onyourwayriley1983.htm On Your Way, Riley] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20040627130224/http://www.queens-theatre.co.uk/archive/onyourwayriley1983.htm |date=2004-06-27 }}, 1983, playbill and details, ''The Queen's Theatre'' website. Accessed 27 September 2007.</ref> A TV adaptation was broadcast on ITV in 1985, with Brian Murphy and Maureen Lipman in the leading roles.<ref name="IMDb">{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1339338|title=On Your Way, Riley|publisher=Internet Movie Database}}</ref>
==Filmography== {{div col}} *''Stars on Parade'' (1936) *''Kathleen Mavourneen'' (1937) *''Old Mother Riley'' (1937) *''Old Mother Riley in Paris'' (1938) *''Old Mother Riley, MP'' (1939) *''Old Mother Riley in Society'' (1940) *''Old Mother Riley Joins Up'' (1940) *''Old Mother Riley's Circus'' (1941) *''Old Mother Riley's Ghosts'' (1941) *''Old Mother Riley in Business'' (1941) *''Old Mother Riley Detective'' (1943) *''Old Mother Riley Overseas'' (1943) *''Old Mother Riley at Home'' (1945) *''Old Mother Riley's New Venture'' (1949) *''Old Mother Riley Headmistress'' (1950) *''Old Mother Riley's Jungle Treasure'' (1951) {{div col end}}
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0574538}} *[http://www.citwf.com/person295305.htm McShane on 'The Complete Index To World Film since 1895']
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{{DEFAULTSORT:McShane, Kitty}} Category:1897 births Category:1964 deaths Category:Irish stage actresses Category:Irish film actresses Category:20th-century Irish actresses Category:Actresses from Dublin (city)