A true acting great.
Irish actor Frank Kelly has passed away aged 77.
The actor, who is probably best known as the drink-loving Father Jack in Father Ted, revealed last November that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
The diagnosis was confirmed when he was admitted to hospital for heart failure.
He said at the time:
“It was my first diagnosis, but I’m quietly confident that I’ve had this for years and years,” he said, explaining that he has lived with a shake in his right hand for a long time.
Kelly said that the Parkinson’s symptoms increased after diagnosis but then abated. “But if you are watching what you are doing, you can control it. It doesn’t interfere with your work, it doesn’t interfere with anything.
“You might have heard of the American actor Michael J Fox, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s 22 years ago and is still working today. I’m the same.”
The acting veteran of stage and screen, who starred in Glenroe, Emmerdale, Hall’s Pictorial Weekly and of course Father Ted, is survived by his wife of 51 years Bairbre, 7 children and 17 grandchildren.
