Frank Kelly, Irish actor, Died at 77

  Actor

Frank Kelly/Francis O’Kelly was born on December 28, 1938, and died on February 28, 2016.

He was an Irish actor, singer and writer, whose career covered television, radio, theatre, music, screenwriting and film.

Kelly played Father Jack Hackett in the Channel Four sitcom Father Ted.

Charles E. Kelly his father was a cartoonist.

His first film role was as an uncredited prison officer in The Italian Job (1969), escorting Charlie Croker (Michael Caine) out of prison in the film’s opening sequence.

Kelly played the leading in the popular RTÉ children’s programme Wanderly Wagon alongside Eugene Lambert and Nora O’Mahoney from 1968–1982, playing a number of different characters and writing many of the scripts.

His work was featured in Hall’s Pictorial Weekly (1970–1982) that established him as one of Ireland’s most recognisable faces.

He memorably portrayed councillor Parnell Mooney, a send-up of a backwoods local authority figure in rural Ireland.

Frank Kelly was the a Jacob’s Award in 1974 for his work on the series.

He was featured in the RTÉ TV programme for those learning Irish Anois is Arisi, in the early 1980s.

Following the end of the programme, Kelly spoke into a telephone, gradually introducing Irish phrases.

Frank appeared in the Irish thriller film Taffin, in 1988.

Frank Kelly passed away at 77 yrs old.