1917-2008 Mel Ferrer

 Melchor Gastón Ferrer^[ (August 25, 1917 – June 2, 2008) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. He achieved prominence on Broadway before scoring notable film hits with Scaramouche, Lili, and Knights of the Round Table. He starred opposite his wife, actress Audrey Hepburn, in War and Peace and produced her film Wait Until Dark. He also acted extensively in European films and appeared in several cult hits, including The Antichrist (1974), The Suspicious Death of a Minor (1975), The Black Corsair (1976), and Nightmare City (1980).

Early life 

Ferrer was born in Elberon, New Jersey, of Spanish and Irish descent. His father, Dr. José María Ferrer (December 3, 1857 – February 23, 1920),^[2] was born in Havana, Cuba, of Catalan ancestry.^[3][4] José was an authority on pneumonia and served as chief of staff of St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City. He was 59 years old at the time of Mel's birth and died three years later. 

Mel Ferrer's US-born mother, Mary Matilda Irene (née O'Donohue; January 28, 1878 – February 19, 1967), was a daughter of coffee broker Joseph J. O'Donohue, New York's City Commissioner of Parks, a founder of the Coffee Exchange, and a founder of the Brooklyn-New York Ferry. An ardent opponent of Prohibition, Irene Ferrer (as she was known) was named in 1934 as the New York State chairman of the Citizens Committee for Sane Liquor Laws.^[7] Mel's parents married on October 17, 1910, in New York.

His mother's family, the O'Donohues, were prominent Roman Catholics. Ferrer's aunt, Marie Louise O'Donohue, was named a papal countess,^[8] and his mother's sister, Teresa Riley O'Donohue, a leading figure in American Roman Catholic charities and welfare organizations, was granted permission by Pope Pius XI to install a private chapel in her New York City apartment.

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