Harold Goldblatt

Harold Goldblatt (born Israel Goldblatt) was an actor, theatre director and theatre producer from Northern Ireland. He was born in Manchester, England, to Russian Jewish parents, and subsequently moved with his family to Northern Ireland, where he grew up in Belfast. He married Leah (Lillie) Rosenzweig. They had two children, a daughter Joan, and a son Ivan. He founded the Jewish Institute Dramatic Society, and remained a prominent member after their merger with the Northern Ireland Players and the Ulster Theatre in 1940 to form the Group Theatre. He left the Group Theatre in 1959, and in 1963 he formed the Ulster Theatre Company, which included a number of former Group members. In the 1950s, he was frequently heard on BBC Radio as well as appearing in films and television. In film, he played Benjamin Guggenheim in A Night to Remember (1958), about the sinking of the Titanic, and on television, he played Concepta Riley's father Sean in four episodes of Coronation Street, Dr. O'Connell in Pathfinders in Space in 1961, and Professor Dale in the Doctor Who serial Frontier in Space in 1973; the latter two were both written by Malcolm Hulke In 1966, Goldblatt received an honorary degree from Queen's University Belfast. He died in London, where he was working on the film Yentl, on 22 March 1982, aged 82. His documents and theatrical materials are archived at the Linen Hall Library, Belfast.