Craggy Island’s boozy priest, Father Jack, dies
Tributes paid to Frank Kelly, the Irish actor known for his foul mouth in ‘Father Ted’
The actor Frank Kelly, best known as the foul-mouthed priest Father Jack in the sitcom Father Ted, has died aged 77. He had a long career of acting roles on stage and screen, including an uncredited part as a prison officer in The Italian Job with Michael Caine in 1969, and a recent stint in the Irish television drama Glenroe.
But he will be remembered by most people as heavydrinking priest Father Jack Hackett in the Channel 4 comedy Father Ted, which ran from 1995 to 1998 and won several Bafta awards, becoming a cult success that transferred to the mainstream.
Kelly’s portrayal of the wild-haired, drooling priest helped create one of the classic characters of modern television comedy in which his physical skills were combined with barking one-word interjections – “Drink!”, “Girls!” – with expert comic timing. The catchphrases quickly entered everyday parlance.
Father Ted co-writer and director Graham Lineham was among the first to pay tribute to his late colleague. Writing on Twitter, he called the news “terribly sad”.
He said: “Just hearing from various sources that Frank Kelly has passed away. Terribly sad news. Thanks for everything, Frank.”
News of Kelly’s death was announced yesterday, by coincidence the 18th anniversary of the death of his Father Ted co-star Dermot Morgan, who played the title role and died of a heart attack in 1998 at the age of 45.
The cause of Kelly’s death has not yet been confirmed.
Robert Morgan, Dermot’s son, said on Twitter: “Thoughts and condolences to Frank Kelly’s family and friends on their loss. A sad day. I hope they find comfort in the joy he brought others.”
The actor David Morrissey said: “Sad news about Frank Kelly. I know Father Ted was the thing everyone knew him for. I worked with him on The Deal and he was such a great guy.”
Kelly was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease last year and survived bowel cancer in 2011, and was treated for skin cancer in 2014.
Despite his illnesses, he continued to work, with acting roles in the soap Emmerdale, playing Dermot Macey, and as Justice Cannon in the film comedy Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie.
In an interview last year, Kelly vowed his Parkinson’s diagnosis would not stop him acting. “I’ve been working as an actor for over 50 years and a shaky hand won’t stop me,” he told the Irish Sun.
“I’m not going to let Parkinson’s beat me. I’m just not that kind of person.”
Born Francis O’Kelly on 28 December 1938, in Blackrock, Co Dublin, Kelly was a qualified lawyer, graduating from University College Dublin, and although he was called to the Bar he never practised.
Kelly played a number of characters on the Irish children’s television programme Wanderly Wagon in the late 1960s. He went on to land a number of roles in television before being cast as Father Jack, for which he needed to be in the make-up department for about two hours before going on set.
More recent roles included John Smith in the Stephen Frears film The Deal in 2003, which starred David Morrissey and Michael Sheen, and in John B Keane’s play Moll in the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin in 2014.
He also secured a UK Top 30 hit in 1983 with the song “Christmas Countdown”, a parody of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, which reached No 26 in the UK singles chart.
Kelly once called his time on the Father Ted set one of the happiest of his life.
“It just makes me happy to see it on TV every Christmas. There was a great happy atmosphere on the set, among the actors and cast, and the show is like a photograph of that,” he said.
Kelly is survived by Bairbre, his wife of 51 years, seven children and 17 grandchildren.
He had a Top 30 hit with ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ parody