Tributes paid to former Liverpool Empire manager Charlie O’Neill who has died aged 82

Mar 1 2012 by Gemma Jaleel, Liverpool Echo

Charles ONeill with Cilla Black

THEATRE stalwart Charlie O'Neill who breathed new life into the Liverpool Empire has died.

Charles O’Neill, 82, passed away at Blackpool Royal Infirmary surrounded by wife Jan and daughters Cordelia and Shannon.

Mr O’Neill, known as Charlie to his friends in Liverpool, was passionate about the theatre and worked in the industry all his life.

His wife told the ECHO: “The theatre was his life. Charles was very outgoing and creative.

“Everyone remembers his smile the most. I remember him as a loving family man who encouraged our daughters to go into the arts.”

Mr O’Neill was born in Everton in 1929. He was one of seven children and went to De La Salle grammar school before training as a carpenter and serving with the RAF.

He worked as a set designer at a theatre in Dublin, where he met American actor and director Sam Wanamaker who offered him a job at the Liverpool’s Shakespeare Theatre.

Later he worked in the West End, constructing scenery and working on the original production of Lionel Bart’s Oliver!, which premiered at the New Theatre in London in 1960.