1. Roger Michael Kelly, known by the stage name Sam Kelly, was an English actor who appeared in film, television, radio and theatre.
18 Facts About Sam Kelly
1. 2.
Sam Kelly worked for three years in the Civil Service in Liverpool before training as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
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Sam Kelly then had a significant role in the British sitcom Porridge as the affable and high spirited Slade Prison inmate Bunny Warren who relies on fellow prisoners to read his letters from home and blames his incarceration on his inability to read.
4.
Sam Kelly played the law-stationer Mr Snagsby in the 1985 BBC adaptation of Bleak House.
5.
In 1996, Sam Kelly appeared at the National Theatre in Helen Edmundson's adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace.
6.
Sam Kelly played Bernard in Holding On and Carl Langbehn in the five-part television drama Christabel.
7.
Sam Kelly appeared in Midsomer Murders episode "Down Among the Dead Men" as Jack Fothergill in 2006 and as the eccentric impoverished ghostwriter, Majors, in the Inspector Morse episode "Second Time Around".
8.
In 1998, Sam Kelly appeared as George Spelvin in a concert version of Strike Up the Band at the Barbican in London and was seen in an episode of the first series of Cold Feet, playing Algernon Gifford.
9.
Sam Kelly starred in Jean-Paul Sartre's play Kean alongside Antony Sher at the Theatre Royal, Bath and in the West End in May 2007.
10.
Sam Kelly was due to have performed in the Doctor Who episode filmed that month, but the role was taken by David Troughton instead.
11.
Sam Kelly though did act in the Doctor Who audio dramas "The Holy Terror" and "Return to the Web Planet" by Big Finish Productions.
12.
From May 2009, Sam Kelly starred as the Wizard in the West End production of the musical Wicked, replacing Desmond Barrit.
13.
Sam Kelly worked with director Mike Leigh on several occasions, including Knock for Knock, Grown-Ups, Topsy-Turvy, All or Nothing, A Running Jump and on stage at the National Theatre in Grief.
14.
Sam Kelly's final film role was a cameo appearance in Leigh's Mr Turner.
15.
On 23 July 2010, Sam Kelly guest starred as Martin in the sitcom My Family in the episode Desperately Stalking Susan.
16.
Sam Kelly was in a long-term relationship with journalist and psychotherapist Grace Pieniazek until her death in 2009.
17.
Sam Kelly returned to Wicked as the Wizard on 18 November 2013.
18.
Sam Kelly was admitted to a hospice on 13 June 2014 and died early the next morning aged 70 after a long battle with cancer.