Frank Kelly

Francis Kelly (28 December 1938 – 28 February 2016) was an Irish actor, singer and writer, whose career covered television, radio, theatre, music, screenwriting and film. He is best known for playing Father Jack Hackett in the Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted.

For other people named Frank Kelly, see Frank Kelly (disambiguation).

Frank Kelly
Born	(1938-12-28)28 December 1938 Blackrock, Dublin, Ireland
Died	28 February 2016(2016-02-28) (aged 77)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1968–2015
Notable work	Father Ted (1995–1998)
Spouse(s)	Bairbre Meldon ( m. 1964)
Children	7
Parent(s)	Charles E. Kelly (father)

He was the son of the cartoonist Charles E. Kelly.

Early life and career

Kelly was born, in 1938, in Blackrock, south County Dublin, where he lived most of his life. His parents were Kathleen and Charles E. Kelly, cartoonist and founder of the satirical magazine Dublin Opinion. He was educated at Blackrock College and went on to study law at University College Dublin and tried journalism, working for years as a subeditor at Irish newspapers,[1][2] before moving on to acting. He worked at Dublin's Eblana Theatre with Cecil Sheridan and as a feed to Cruise. Other work included pantomime and reviews.[3]

Kelly's first film role was as an uncredited prison officer in The Italian Job (1969), escorting Charlie Croker (Michael Caine) out of prison[2] in the film's opening sequence.

He starred in the popular RTÉ children's programme Wanderly Wagon alongside Eugene Lambert and Nora O'Mahoney from 1968 to 1982, playing a number of different characters and writing many of the scripts.[4] It was Kelly's work on Hall's Pictorial Weekly (1970–1982) that established him as one of Ireland's most recognisable faces. He memorably portrayed councillor Parnell Mooney, a send-up of a backwards local authority figure in rural Ireland. In 1974, Kelly won a Jacob's Award for his work on the series.

In the early 1980s, he was featured in the RTÉ TV programme for those learning Irish Anois is Aris. At the end of the programme he spoke into a telephone, gradually introducing Irish phrases.[5] In 1988, he appeared in the Irish thriller film Taffin.

Father Ted

Kelly was best known outside Ireland for playing Father Jack Hackett in the comedy series Father Ted, which aired in the United Kingdom from April 1995 to May 1998. Father Jack is an old, alcoholic and offensively rambunctious priest who usually shouts only "feck!", "arse!", "drink!" and "girls!" and the occasional scream of "what!" and "women's knickers".

For his role in Father Ted, he wore contact lenses (to show Father Jack's blank eye). People would not eat lunch with him during filming if he was in his Father Jack make-up[6] because the false flaky skin he was wearing would fall off into the food.

Interviewing Kelly in 1997 for The Irish Times, Deirdre Falvey said of him: "In person he could not be further from Father Jack. Urbane, articulate, thoughtful, fit (he swims and hikes), charming company, full of stories, and quite serious, though his conversation is punctuated by the occasional burst of laughter—he is reputably a great slagger with colleagues, and is very well liked." Kelly himself said:

I like humour — but I'm very suspicious of people who laugh all the time, because they never listen to what you're saying, they always — have another agenda and they generally have no sense of humour. The most untrustworthy body language I know is that of the person who laughs all the time. That terrifies me. People with no sense or a very limited sense of humour I am very wary of too, because it's not a sign of great intelligence to be without a sense of humour. If you've no sense of irony you haven't a great decision making capacity because you must see the possibilities of the downside of any decision. Without perspective you can't have any wisdom, so it frightens me when I meet captains of industry or whatever who have virtually no sense of humour. That's the kind of person I find dismaying.[7]

Later career

From 1999 to 2001, Kelly starred in Glenroe as Maurice and played Henry Doyle (father of Pierce Brosnan's Desmond Doyle) in Evelyn (2002). He appeared in the film Rat in 2000, as a priest called Father Pickle in the TV series Lexx (2001), and also in a short film, Yu Ming Is Ainm Dom, in 2003. That same year, he had a major role as John Smith, leader of the Labour Party, in the UK Television drama The Deal.

In 2007, he acted in the TG4 political drama Running Mate, about an election campaign.[8] He also appeared in the TG4 series Paddywhackery.

On 29 September 2010, it was announced that Kelly had joined ITV1 soap Emmerdale, playing the role of Dermot, Declan Macey's father.[9] Kelly left the soap after five months of filming because he missed his family in Ireland.[10]

A regular stage actor, Kelly toured extensively in the United States and Canada. He provided voice-overs and in his television advertising work, appeared with "Mr Tayto" in an advertising campaign for Tayto crisps.

In 2014, he appeared as judge Justice Cannon in Mrs. Brown's Boys D'Movie.[11]

In September 2015, Kelly published an autobiography called The Next Gig. His reminiscences include those of acting colleagues including Pierce Brosnan and Michael Caine.[12]

Radio comedy

Many of his radio sketches originated from his weekday RTÉ radio show The Glen Abbey Show in the 1970s until the 1990s. Kelly played the part of a culchie, "Gobnait O'Lúnasa", the sketches typically started with the sound of him putting coins in an old freckle coin box, and when the phone rang and was answered, his words were, "Hello! Guess who? Is that you Nuala?" Kelly acted the part of an English BBC reporter interviewing rural inhabitants about local customs, such as watching bacon being sliced, or "ha-hooing" (shouting a Rebel yell) competitions. The village was called Ballykilferret and described by the BBC man as being in "the Republic of Eer-ah" (a mispronunciation of Éire).

Music career

In 1982, Kelly released a single, "Christmas Countdown", a comedy monologue based on the Christmas song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and credited to the pseudonymic Gobnait O’Lúnasa. It reached number eight in the Irish Singles Chart in 1982, and peaked at #26 in the UK Singles Chart in 1984. He performed the single live on Top of the Pops on 5 January of that year.[13][14] The single was the opening track on the later album Comedy Countdown.

In 2000 he released Comedy Countdown, an album featuring some of his sketches taken from The Glen Abbey Show. Tracks included the "Ayatollah Ceili Band" (a pun on The Tulla Céilí Band), "Magnum Farce", "Incoming Call", "Festive Spirit", "Hymn of Praise", "Call of the Wild", "Festive Note" and "Siege Mentality".

Death

Kelly died on 28 February 2016, after suffering a heart attack. He revealed he had Parkinson's disease in October 2015, and was recovering from bowel cancer.[15] He had previously survived skin cancer.[4]

His death came exactly 18 years after the death of his Father Ted co-star Dermot Morgan.[16][17] Speaking at Kelly's funeral, Michael D. Higgins, the President of Ireland, said, "He will forever be remembered for his roles in the theatre and will be recalled with great affection and fondness for his roles on television, including in Wanderly Wagon, Glenroe and the much-loved Hall's Pictorial Weekly."[18]

Kelly and Bairbre, his wife of 51 years who was a drama teacher, had five daughters and two sons.[3]

Filmography

Film

Title	Year	Role	Notes
The Italian Job	1969	Prison officer	Uncredited
Taffin	1988	Liam
Rock-a-Doodle	1991	Grand Duke's Owls	Animated film; Voice
Hear My Song	1991	Taxi Driver #2
War of the Buttons	1994	Gorilla's Dad
Soft Sand, Blue Sea	1998	Inspector Fitzgerald
Rat	2000	Uncle Matt
Evelyn	2002	Henry Doyle
The Boys from County Clare	2003	The Chairman	Alternatively titled The Great Ceili War
Cowboys & Angels	2003	Jerry
Turning Green	2005	Father O'Hara
Waiting For Dublin	2007	Thaddius
Mrs. Brown's Boys D'Movie	2014	Justice Cannon

Television

Title	Year	Role	Notes
Wanderly Wagon	1968	Doctor Astro	(a recurring villain)
Hall's Pictorial Weekly	1970	Various characters
Second City Firsts	1975	Surveyor	Season 4, Episode 2 - "Swallows"
Teems of Times	1978	Giggles Devoy	Season 1 - 4 episodes
The Irish R.M.	1984	Bat Callaghan	Season 2, Episode 2 - "The Dispensary Doctor"
Remington Steele	1984	Willard Skeggs	Season 3, Episode 6 - "Steele Your Heart Away"
Screen Two	1994	Hotel priest	Season 10, Episode 5 - "O Mary This London"
Father Ted	1995–98	Father Jack Hackett	3 seasons - 25 episodes
Miracle at Midnight	1998	Stranger	Television film
Aristocrats	1999	George Selwyn	Miniseries - 2 episodes
Glenroe	1997–99	Maurice Nolan	Season 14 & Season 17 - 5 episodes
Revolver	2001	Various characters	Season 1
Lexx	2001	Father Pickle	Season 4, Episode 6 - "The Rock"
The Deal	2003	John Smith	Television film
Malice Aforethought	2005	Mr. Gunnell	Television film
The Running Mate	2007	Pauly O'Sullivan	Miniseries - 4 episodes
Paddywhackey	2007	Eddie Grant/Freddy Grant	Season 1 - 6 episodes
Val Falvey TD	2009	Willy Nilly	Season 1, Episode 6 - "Dis Dat Dese Dose"
Emmerdale	2010–11	Dermot Macey	43 episodes

Short film

• 35 Aside ... Nasty teacher (1996)
• Fishing the Sloe-Black River ... The priest (1996)
• Yu Ming Is Ainm Dom ... Paddy (2003)
• The Unusual Inventions of Henry Cavendish ... Mr. Thomas Palmerston (2005)
• A Day Out with Gwyn ... Gwyn Senior (2005)
• Music Memories (2012)
• Tea with the Dead ... Frank Finnegan (voice) (2014)
• 69 and Dead ... Eamon (2015)

Books

• 2015, The Next Gig, Dublin: Currach Press, ISBN 978-1782-18840-7

References

1. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/feb/28/frank-kelly-obituary
2. Ellis-Petersen, Hannah (28 February 2016). "Frank Kelly, Father Ted's foul-mouthed priest, dies aged 77". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 April 2017 – via The Guardian.
3. "Late Frank Kelly was loved by generations of Irish people". The Irish Times. 29 February 2016. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
4. "Beloved actor Frank Kelly has died aged 77". Thejournal.ie. 28 February 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
5. And Others, Devitt, S. M. "Learning Irish with "Anois is Arís." CLCS Occasional Paper No. 6, Winter 1982-3. A Report on the Background, Attitudes, Expectations, and Learning Experience of a Volunteer Group of Course Participants". Retrieved 23 April 2017. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
6. Linehan, Graham; Mathews, Arthur (1999). Father Ted: the complete scripts. London: Boxtree. p. 120. ISBN 0752218506.
7. Deirdre Falvey (1 February 1997). "JACK of all trades". The Irish Times. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
8. "1 October Start For TG4's 'Running Mate'". IFTN. 25 September 2006.
9. "'Emmerdale' reveals new Home Farm dynasty". Digital Spy. 30 September 2010.
10. "Father Ted's Frank Kelly has quit Emmerdale". Unreality TV. 30 April 2011. Archived from the original on 4 May 2011.
11. Kirsty Blake (31 March 2014). "It's back to the parochial house for 'Ted' star Kelly". Independent.ie. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
12. "The Next Gig". currach.ie. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
13. "Frank Kelly – Christmas Countdown". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
15. "'Father Jack' actor Kelly dies aged 77". BBC News. 28 February 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
16. "Father Jack Actor Frank Kelly Dies Aged 77". News.sky.com. 28 February 2016. Archived from the original on 28 February 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
17. "Acting great Frank Kelly dies aged 77 - RTÉ Ten". Rte.ie. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
18. "Actor Frank Kelly's funeral underway in Dublin". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2 March 2016.

External links

• Frank Kelly on IMDb