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Carmel McSharry

Irish actress (1926-2018)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 1, 2026
Entity authorityQ5043300 ↗
Source-derived summary

Carmel Evelyn McSharry (18 August 1926 – 4 March 2018) was an Irish character actress, best known for her roles as Beryl Humphries in Beryl's Lot (1973–77), and as Mrs. Hollingbery in In Sickness and in Health.

Early life

Carmel McSharry's parents, John McSharry and Christina Harvey were Irish. Her mother travelled back to Dublin for the birth of Carmel so that she would be born in Ireland.

Career

McSharry was chiefly known for her roles as Beryl Humphries in Beryl's Lot (1973–77), and as Mrs. Hollingbery in In Sickness and in Health. She also played bit parts in The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961), 80,000 Suspects (1963) and The Leather Boys (1964).

Her television work included roles in The Liver Birds, Casualty and Z-Cars. She also appeared in the BBC play Home from Home in 1973, which also featured Yootha Joyce and Michael Robbins.

Personal life

McSharry married Derek Briggs in 1949.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Carmel McSharry” as irish actress (1926-2018). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Carmel, McSharry and Irish.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1926, 2018, 1973, 1961—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1926-08-18. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Carmel, McSharry and Irish providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Carmel McSharry”, the useful work is to connect “irish actress (1926-2018)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5043300. VIAF identifies the subject as 4611153596640751900004. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1926, 2018, 1973 and 1961.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Carmel McSharry”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Carmel McSharry primary sources, Carmel McSharry archive and Carmel research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Carmel McSharry”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Carmel McSharry” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.