1. Francis Kelly was an Irish actor, singer and writer, whose career covered television, radio, theatre, music, screenwriting and film.
24 Facts About Frank Kelly
1. 2.
Frank Kelly is best remembered for playing Father Jack Hackett in the Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted.
3.
Frank Kelly was born, in 1938, in Blackrock, County Dublin, which remained his home for much of his life.
4.
Frank Kelly's father was Charles E Kelly, a cartoonist who established the magazine Dublin Opinion.
5.
Frank Kelly was educated at Blackrock College and studied law at University College Dublin, before taking up journalism, working for some years as a subeditor at a number of Irish newspapers, prior to becoming an actor.
6.
Frank Kelly worked at Dublin's Eblana Theatre with Cecil Sheridan and Jack Cruise.
7.
Frank Kelly starred in the popular RTE 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.
8.
Frank Kelly memorably portrayed councillor Parnell Mooney, a send-up of a backward local authority figure in rural Ireland.
9.
In 1974, Frank Kelly won a Jacob's Award for his work on the series.
10.
Frank 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.
11.
From 1999 to 2001, Frank Kelly starred in Glenroe as Maurice and played Henry Doyle in Evelyn.
12.
Frank Kelly appeared in the film Rat in 2000, as a priest called Father Pickle in the TV series Lexx, and in a short film, Yu Ming Is Ainm Dom, in 2003.
13.
On 29 September 2010, it was announced that Frank Kelly had joined ITV1 soap Emmerdale, playing the role of Dermot, Declan Macey's father.
14.
Frank Kelly left the soap after five months of filming because he missed his family in Ireland.
15.
Frank Kelly provided voice-overs and in his television advertising work, appeared with "Mr Tayto" in an advertising campaign for Tayto crisps.
16.
In September 2015, Frank Kelly published an autobiography called The Next Gig.
17.
Frank Kelly's reminiscences include those of acting colleagues Pierce Brosnan and Michael Caine.
18.
Frank Kelly played the part of a culchie called Gobnait O'Lunasa.
19.
In 1982, Frank 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'Lunasa.
20.
Frank Kelly died on 28 February 2016, after suffering a heart attack.
21.
Frank Kelly revealed he had Parkinson's disease in October 2015, and was recovering from bowel cancer.
22.
Frank Kelly's death came exactly 18 years after the death of his Father Ted co-star Dermot Morgan.
23.
Frank Kelly and Bairbre, his wife of 51 years who was a drama teacher, had five daughters and two sons.
24.
Frank Kelly featured on adverts for Sony and Jacob's Chocolate biscuits during the late 1970's and early 1980's.