(Above: The late actor Joe Cronin, who played a wide variety of roles during his long career, will be honored with a gathering at Oregon Contemporary Theatre on July 27; photo from Facebook records one of his Shakespearean roles.)
Information provided by Oregon Contermporary Theatre; edited by Randi Bjornstad
Friends and colleagues will hold a Curtain Call for Joe Cronin celebration of life on Saturday, July 27, 2024, to honor the esteemed local and statewide actor, who died of heart failure on May 15 at the age of 81.
The gathering will be at 11 a.m. at Oregon Contemporary Theatre, 194 W. Broadway in downtown Eugene.
In addition to his countless admirers, Cronin’s survivors include five brothers and sisters, three children, two grandchildren, and his partner, Judy Roberts.
He was born into a large, Irish-Catholic family in Cambridge, Mass. He attended Boston College and Illinois Tech, where he earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry. He did oceanographic research in Bradford, England, and Oban, Scotland, where he trained as a diver.
Acting, a family tradition, came naturally to Cronin, who performed in 30 stage plays in Bradford, to good reviews in the press. Critics remarked upon his knack for boosting other actors, making them shine. While in England, he developed a fondness for “panto,” a British-style musical theater holiday spoof. He loved the part of the Dame, a role traditionally played by a man.
After a brief return to Chicago to teach science, Cronin moved to Oregon and traded his academic title for the stage. He joined Actors Equity and the other professional unions, and his talents were in demand throughout his long career.
He was a leading actor on Portland stages throughout the 1980s. He also appeared with Oregon’s and Utah’s Shakespeare Festivals, Eugene’s Willamette Repertory Theatre, Portland Civic Theatre, the Alberta Rose Theatre, and Seattle’s Intiman Theatre. He also performed in Virginia and other states.
In Portland, Cronin twice received the annual Drama Critics’ award for Portland’s Best Actor. He co-founded the Artists Repertory Theatre, where he, along with former partner Nyla McCarthy, received multiple honors. His movie and television roles included playing a science teacher in Gus Van Sant’s movie, Elephant, and a band leader in an episode of Wee Sing. He also did a one-man show for three years as Ebeneezer, an event heralding Widner Brewing’s release of each year’s new stout. At Christmastime, he also did solo performances of Dylan Thomas’s, A Child’s Christmas in Wales.
In 2007, Cronin played King Lear as a guest artist at Lane Community College. He also performed roles locally with Willamette Repertory Theatre, Oregon Contemporary Theatre, and the Fools Haven acting company.
Cronin has been characterized as a diversified Renaissance man, his conversation filled with eclectic knowledge and a sharp wit. He wore his heart on his sleeve, a quality that served the authenticity of his acting and treasured by many actors who shared onstage experiences with him.
His wide range of interests also included debate, especially on subjects such as philosophy, scientific theory, languages and military history, and he was known for his rapier wit as well as being a gourmet chef, a prolific poet who created sonnets for actors when shows closed, and a writer of plays, stories, and essays.
Cronin and a friend, John Dooley traveled throughout Oregon, reading their poems in bookstores and coffee houses — in particular at Café Lena in Portland — and as a team represented the Pacific Northwest at National Poetry Slams.
His career also included interviewing prominent intellectuals as host of a Portland radio show, and serving as a greeter for the Linus Pauling lecture series in Portland, which featured many great thinkers, including Stephen Hawking.
More about him and his varied career can be found in a piece titled, A farewell to Joe Cronin and John Dillon, published by Oregon Arts Watch after both men died the same week, Cronin in Eugene and Dillon in Seattle: orartswatch.org/a-farewell-to-joe-cronin-and-john-dillon/
