There was more to Frank Kelly than just Father Jack.
Though he was best known to audiences for his portrayal of the drunken, foul-mouthed Father Jack, on the groundbreaking Irish Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted (1995-1998), his acting reputation preceded him.
Born as Francis O’Kelly on Dec. 28, 1938, he was one of the six children of cartoonist and satirist Charles E. Kelly, according to The Daily Telegraph. His father was also the founder of the satirical magazine Dublin Opinion. He was educated at Blackrock College in Dublin. He later read law at University College Dublin, and was called to the bar at King’s Inn, but then switched to acting, after a brief stint sub-editing at the Irish Press group.
He had acted on Irish television shows like Hall’s Pictorial Weekly, from 1971 to 1980, and even in movies, everything from the sentimental Evelyn (2002) starring alongside Pierce Brosnan, to his final role playing a judge in Mrs. Brown’s Boys D’Movie (2014). His first – un-credited – film role was as a prison guard escorting Michael Caine out of jail in the 1969 movie The Italian Job. His versatility knew no bounds – he acted on the children’s TV show Wanderly Wagon from 1968 to 1982, and in soap operas, like Emmerdale in 2010 and Glenroe, from 1999 to 2001. He also wrote many of the Wanderly Wagon scripts, and played multiple characters.
He even took on a more dramatic, serious role, playing the late Scottish politician John Smith, Tony Blair’s predecessor as the U.K.’s Labour Party leader, in a 2003 TV movie. His satirization of Irish politics in the 1970s made him a household name, and comedian Ardal O’Hanlon, who played Father Dougal on Father Ted said he would regularly watch Hall’s Pictorial Weekly as a child.
He also had hit records, releasing a single in 1982, “Christmas Countdown,” based on the holiday favourite “The 12 Days of Christmas.” It reached number eight in the Irish singles charts that year, and number 26 in the UK singles chart in 1984.
But, ironically, even in death, the show that made his name known worldwide still got the last laugh, as he died at the age of 77, on the 18th anniversary of the death of Father Ted himself, fellow comedian Dermot Morgan. Like Morgan, he also died of a heart attack.
Kelly survived bowel cancer in 2013 and had treatment for skin cancer in 2014. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease last November.
He is survived by his wife, Bairbre, his seven children, and 17 grandchildren.
