In a groundbreaking performance, Deirdre O’Connell has captured the hearts of audiences and critics alike with her portrayal of Francis Cobb in HBO’s ‘The Penguin.’ At 73, her Emmy nomination marks a significant milestone in her illustrious career.
‘It Made My Blood Run Cold’: Deirdre O’Connell on Unlocking Francis Cobb’s Hidden Fury in ‘The Penguin’
For veteran stage and screen actress Deirdre O’Connell, landing her first Emmy nod at 73 has been nothing short of surreal. Nominated for her role as Francis Cobb in HBO’s The Penguin — the acclaimed spinoff of Matt Reeves’ The Batman, created by Lauren LeFranc and starring fellow Emmy nominees Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti — O’Connell has found herself at the center of one of television’s darkest, most operatic sagas.
“It feels fantastic,” she says. “I loved doing this so much that, honestly, that was its own reward. I told myself, ‘I’m never going to watch it, I’m never going to care what anybody thinks.’ But then to have all of this happen on top of it — it really is icing on a very delicious cake.”
Discovering Francis Cobb
When O’Connell first signed on, she only had a glimpse of the world she’d be entering. “I had read the first three episodes, and I loved the writing,” she recalls. “I understood the trope of the lady and what she represented, and of course I had seen Colin’s performance in The Batman. I knew what we were building around, and I loved that performance so much.”
It wasn’t until creator Lauren LeFranc sat O’Connell down for a 90-minute conversation that the actress understood just how deep Francis’ story ran. “Lauren told me the whole tale,” she says. “I almost thought she was kidding — like, ‘All of that is going to be in the show?’ It was overwhelming in the best way. I signed on thinking I’d show up every once in a while, give them a hard time, and it would be an awesome job. But then it just kept going deeper and deeper. That was such a great surprise.”
A Personal Connection
O’Connell’s portrayal of Francis — a mother battling the effects of dementia while carrying devastating secrets about her son Oz’s violent past — came from a deeply personal place. “My dad probably had Lewy body dementia, though he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s,” she says. “And now my mom has another form of dementia. I’ve lived inside that world. I saw my father, who was a man of such grace and class, get into these tiny rages over the lack of dignity in not being able to do simple things.
“Because of that, I felt a responsibility. I didn’t want to cheapen it or flaunt it. I had to walk this very delicate line — to be completely in it, but not oversell it.”
To prepare, O’Connell met with specialists, visited patients’ homes, and studied physical therapy routines designed for those with Parkinson’s and Lewy body dementia. “People were so generous,” she says. “They let me into their homes and showed me the sessions. And then there are so many YouTube videos now where families share what they’re going through, hoping to help others. It was an entire world that opened up.”
Working with Colin Farrell
Central to Francis’s story is her fraught relationship with her son Oz, played by Colin Farrell in full transformative prosthetics. O’Connell admits she was “intimidated” before meeting him — but that vanished the moment cameras rolled.
“Our first real time together was a camera test, with him in full regalia,” she says. “Somehow, there was just a connection we made. It was like, ‘Oh, that’s who you are. OK, game on.’”
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“I’ve been a fan of his for a long time, but he really disappeared into Oz. I didn’t have to deal with my Colin Farrell fangirl at all because he was just gone — he became someone else. And thank God for that, because it made it instant. We were just in that world together.”
Farrell’s generosity as a scene partner left a lasting impression. “He surrendered to me in ways he didn’t have to,” O’Connell says. “He’s so powerful and full of fire, but he also completely gives himself over to the other person. That’s rare. We were lucky — blessed, really. We didn’t talk a lot; we’d just dive in. There was always this sense that whatever happened next would be okay.”
The Emotional Breaking Point
One of the season’s most gut-wrenching moments comes when Francis explodes, revealing long-buried truths after Oz dismisses her outburst as “her disease talking.” That line, O’Connell says, cut deeply.
“I remember feeling like, ‘Don’t you dare,’” she recalls. “I think that came partly from living through this with my dad. There’s a moment when you will not be belittled that way. You still know what’s going on enough. That’s when Francis decides, ‘All bets are off — I’m going to tell the truth.’”
Shooting Francis’s final scene, where she lies in a coma, proved unexpectedly intense. “I thought it would be simple — I’m just lying in bed,” she says. “But then there was this thing Colin did at the very end. I felt Oz stop asking for his mom’s love. It was like he flipped a switch I didn’t even know was on, and it made my blood run cold. Everyone in the room felt it. It was breathtaking.”
A veteran of stage and screen — and a Tony Award winner — O’Connell admits she struggled at times with the scale of her performance. “There were days I thought, ‘Are we really getting away with this?’ The acting felt so full-on, like using every muscle I had,” she says. “But because the story was so operatic, it demanded that. It gave me courage to go there.”
