What an incredible year you have given us!

Yes, even in the midst of a global pandemic, you managed to create movies and television series. You published a new BOOK! And you also Zoomed into history, with so many Zoom sessions I could barely keep up with you!

Your book has touched so many people all over the world. Reviewers are one thing–and the reviews for your book have been stupendous. But readers of all kinds have found Walking With Ghosts a surprising and unexpected window into your life: your words inspiring, your vulnerability so moving, and your sense of humor giggle-inducing (“Does this taste funny to you?”). That’s a lovely accomplishment and everyone here at Byrneholics joins in the chorus of kudos for your success.

BUT you were not content to just be a successful author. No, you would not be content until you scared the pants off of us in War of the Worlds and then took us on the roller coaster ride that is ZeroZeroZero. TV was suddenly full of Gabriel and this was a different Gabriel: intense, dark, and sometimes even scary! If a pandemic had to be endured–and it did–then spending time with you in scary places doing scary things was a fascinating antidote to the real fears facing us every day. Fight fire with fire, you seemed to be saying. So we did!

And, since Death was hanging out on every street corner this past year, it seems only fitting that the film in which you starred featured Death in at least a supporting role. Death of a Ladies’ Man is somehow everything that the time of the pandemic has been: tragic, surreal, playful, macabre, luminous, heartbreaking, absurd, and poignant. That’s a lot for one film! But it works. And your work as Samuel O’Shea is herculean. How did you find all those colors and tones and how did you disappear into that character so perfectly? Always a wonderment, when your acting skill meets a role that truly speaks to you and to us.

Zoom was pretty boring before you came along. You might have felt that all those Zoom sessions about your new book just melted into one long session of you talking into a screen and saying the same thing over and over. That is NOT what happened. I can attest that you always found a way to say something new and to tackle a question from a surprising angle. Your Zoom partners were all different. You were the same, but not the same. I know I learned many new things about you, your experiences, and your way of looking at the world and at the past during each one of those sessions. So THANK YOU for doing them all!

And now another year has passed and you are off in Montana (I think) shooting a new film, with another one waiting in the wings in Germany (I think) and who knows what else you have on your calendar for the coming year.

This year was a STELLAR (sorry, that’s my word, you know!) year for you and for us. Thank you so much for sharing with us and for keeping us busy while all around us things were going to “hell in a hand basket,” as my mother used to say. I believe we have come out on the other side now. Your book, your screen projects, and YOU truly helped.

So Happiest of Birthdays to you, Gabriel Byrne! And we wish you many, many more! heart

Everyone! Please leave your Birthday Greetings for Gabriel in the comments below. What was the Gabriel Event of 2021 that surprised you, made you happy, made you feel or think the most? Thanks! heart

A sweet birthday to our favorite Irishman! wink

14 Comments

  1. Dear Mr. Byrne,
    I send you the warmest congratulations on your birthday!
    For the new year of your life I wish you as much happiness as the rain has drops, as much love as the sun has rays, as much health as the rainbow has colors and as much joy as the sky has stars.
    Love from Berlin
    Rosi

  2. Happy birthday and many more!

  3. Danielle Dantzer

    Dear Mr. Byrne,
    I wish you a happy birthday and a lot of good things.
    Full of smiles and good humor, that all your dreams come true. I remember my holiday in Ireland, it’s a beautiful country with sincere, deep and understanding people like you. I am eager to see and hear from you again.
    Love from Strasbourg, France

  4. Farah Jones

    Happy birthday Mr byrne. You are a fabulous actor. I’ve followed you for many years and watched you grow in your career. And what career that is… I enjoy reading your books you deserve health happiness and of course a fantastic life with your family… You are an icon in the acting world with such a talent… Best wishes to you . Enjoy your birthday. X

  5. Happiest of birthdays Mr Byrne.

  6. Happy birthday, dear Mr. Byrne. This book and all the zooms have been very special…it still made my day to get to ask you about defining heroism, and to see my questions asked and answered about a film version of the book and future plays you’d hope to work on. (I hope in the something-like-normal times, we can still have some zooms, and also in-person again.) After reading the book I get to be in Ohio with farms a short walk away from us. How apt.
    Death Of A Ladies man is a very special movie-I can’t think of it with anybody else but you.
    Hallelujah.

  7. Another year of highlights and no sign of you slowing down, that’s great for all of us who follow your work knowing that whatever projects you take up will be of great interest and that you remain true to yourself. The book has made a big impact on myself and it seems many others, the zoom calls have enforced how right you were to put your ghosts on show , that it is okay to face and give credence to our own. Thank you.

  8. Happy birthday Gabriel Byrne.
    You are a talented man and a great inspiration.

    Wish you all the best!

  9. Wishing you every happiness on your birthday. Your book is lyrical and honest, definitely the highlight of my reading list this year. Death of a Ladies’ Man was a very special film. You continue to inspire and make us think, so please write more!

    Angelle from Canada

  10. DORA BARALIA

    LIKE all my fellows in these pages, perhaps later but ever present, I send all my best wishes to this wonderful man that day by day surprises us with all his works . . . through his wonderful and emotive book, his personal experiences and feelings during the very hard passages of his life. And all his works in the middle of this pandemic . . . makes our admiration grow. For all this and his tough personality and his inner force to obtain all he wants . . . All the success for him. Thanks STELLA for all this news . . .

  11. Michelle Lekas

    Be well, Mr. Byrne!
    A very very belated birthday wish for continuing joy and success
    I include excerpts from both of
    your books in my courses at UMNTC and they are REALLY appreciated!
    You are a fantastic actor and what I think more and more (& I am far from alone) is that you are a more a good person. Really.
    Happy year to you!

  12. Michelle Lekas

    I teach Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus. My students love the books and use them as inspiration for memoir analysis!

    • This is so cool! I was an English literature major in undergraduate school, with a focus on the English Romantics. I rarely read memoirs. Gabriel’s two books are the exception, and I have read some by great women writers like Ursula K. Le Guin and M. F. K. Fisher, among others. But I find it a difficult genre, for some reason. Good for you for presenting it to your students. <3

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