FATHER Brian D’Arcy has paid tribute to his “good friend”, the Father Ted actor Frank Kelly who died at the weekend.
The 77-year-old was best known for playing Father Jack Hackett in the hit sitcom. A veteran of stage and screen in a career lasting 60 years, he also enjoyed more recent roles in Emmerdale and Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie.
“Frank was a lovely friend of mine. He had two uncles who were Passionists priests like myself,” Fr Brian told the Herald.
“I’ve known him for many years. He was a wonderful and committed Christian man and a daily Mass-goer. He was a barrister by trade and read Theology as his hobby all of his life. He will be fondly remembered as a superb actor, writer and satirist as well as a devoted family man.”
The death of Frank Kelly comes just a month after Fr Brian lost another close friend, Terry Wogan. Both men shared a special bond with the priest when he was censured by the Vatican in April 2012.
“I’ll never forget Frank for one thing – when the Vatican were trying to take me out of it a couple of years ago, the first person to volunteer to go on televsion to defend me was him. There were not many people who would come out as publicly as that and strangely enough the other person to do so was Terry Wogan. It’s sad that both of them are now gone and only within a month of each other.”
Fr Brian said he could relate to the character of Fr Jack, known to many as an elderly, foul- mouthed, ill-tempered alcoholic.
“The problem is I’ve met far too many Father Jacks. They are real sadly. They are most harmless ones – there are a lot worse than the Father Jacks still masquerading as priests,” Fr Brian added.
Last November, Kelly revealed that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease but vowed that he would continue to work.
He passed away on Sunday, exactly 18 years after the death of his Father Ted co-star Dermot Morgan on Sunday, February 28th 1998. Fr Brian was portrayed in the past as “Father Brian Trendy” by the famed comedian.
The deaths of his two close friends in recent weeks are just the latest losses for Fr Brian in the last two years following the passing of country singer Gene Stuart, broadcaster Derek Davis, former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds and the former Head of RTÉ 2FM, Bill O’Donovan.
Despite this, Fr Brian says he remains hopeful and upbeat through the difficult times which is what he hopes to instill in the hearts and minds of those attending this week’s twenty-seventh annual Novena of Hope at the Graan.
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