Helen Hayes Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, Lifetime Achievement Award
David Kelly (11 July 1929 – 12 February 2012) was an Irish actor who had regular roles in several film and television works from the 1950s onwards. One of the most recognisable voices and faces of Irish stage and screen,[1] Kelly was known for his roles as Rashers Tierney in Strumpet City, Cousin Enda in Me Mammy, the builder Mr O'Reilly in Fawlty Towers, Albert Riddle in Robin's Nest, and Grandpa Joe in the film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005). Another notable role was as Michael O'Sullivan in Waking Ned Devine.[2]
One of his first television appearances was on RTÉ in O'Dea's your Man (1964) in which he played the part of Ignatius opposite Jimmy O'Dea. He went on to become a familiar face on British television with the BBC comedy Me Mammy, opposite Milo O'Shea and Anna Manahan. He went on to often-memorable guest roles on such series as Oh Father! and Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width, and particularly during the 1970s with a long-running role as the one-armed dishwasher Albert Riddle in the Man About the House spin-off Robin's Nest.[7] He also had a regular long running role alongside Bruce Forsyth in both series of the comedy Slinger's Day from 1986 to 1987, and, in 1991, he appeared in the first series of the BBC sitcom 2point4 Children as the cafe-owner Paddy.
He gained some of his greatest recognition in 1975, playing inept builder Mr O'Reilly on the second episode of Fawlty Towers ("The Builders").[3]
Kelly was in the voice cast of The Light Princess, a partly animated, hour-long family fantasy that aired on the BBC in 1978.[8]
Kelly was married to actress Laurie Morton, who survived him, along with children David and Miriam.[9] He died after a short illness on 12 February 2012[3][10] at age 82. The Irish Times referred to him as the "grand old man of Irish acting".[3] A Catholic funeral mass took place on 16 February 2012, at the Church of the Miraculous Medal, in the actor's home town of Dublin. Kelly was cremated at Mount Jerome Cemetery and Crematorium.[11]