Irish Extra Happy About Departed

By April Drew

AS Peter McGeough, sat having dinner with friends on Sunday evening in the Tara bar and restaurant in Yonkers, he couldn’t help but stray away from the conversation to catch a glimpse at the overhead television that was showing the Oscars. Mc-Geough had a vested interested in the Best Picture category.

“And the winner is The Departed!”

The 71 year-old Yonkers resident describes this moment as “overwhelming and “delightful.” McGeough not only loves the movie, he also was cast as an extra alongside Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Matt Damon and Leonardo di Caprio.

McGeough, who came to the U.S. from Donaghmoyne near Carrickmacross in Co. Monaghan in 1957, was chosen out of hundreds of wannabe actors who showed up at Rory Dolan’s in Yonkers and Sidetracks in Queens when casting directors where looking for Irish extras for The Departed in 2005.

The Departed, a movie about the South Boston police department waging war on an Irish organized crime gang, won four Oscars in Hollywood on Sunday night Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best editing and Martin Scorsese, finally, for Best Director.

Back in October when The Departed was released nationwide, McGeough told the Irish Voice that he was chosen as an extra by total luck.

“I happened to be in Rory Dolan’s at the bar that evening chatting to a few lads when they opened the doors to the function hall and I got swept into the crowd,” he remembers.

Two days later he got a call telling him that he got a part in the movie.

McGeough, a singer who has brought out his own CD, plays the saxophone and loves to dance. He has been congratulated everywhere he goes since his movie suddenly became an Oscar winner.

“Every bar and restaurant I go into since Sunday people are congratulating me and the movie. It is truly a great feeling,” he said.

Not only that but people are now referring to him as an “actor.”

“It’s great,” he laughs.

McGeough, who has been retired for 20 years and once worked as an MTA bus driver and owned his own contracting firm, got the call to appear at Gerritsen Beach in Brooklyn to act in a bar scene with Nicholson, who played the part of gangster-man Frank Costello. He spent three days shooting the scene.

“I was propped up against the bar, pretending to be having a beer for the entire three days,” remembers McGeough.

Since his claim to fame in The Departed, McGeough has been called for another audition for another gangster movie.

“I got a call from Universal Studios and I went down to their offices in Manhattan and they took headshots and that sort of thing,” he said, not knowing the exact details of the part or the name of the movie.

“I’m not sure if I will get the part but they have my details if they want me,” he said hopefully.