News

Irish stage and film actor David Kelly has died. He was 82.

Best known to American audiences for his role as Grandpa Joe in the 2005 remake of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," Kelly's credits also included "Laws of Attraction," "The Jigsaw Man" and the original "Italian Job." In 1998, he earned a Screen Actor's Guild nomination for his portrayal of Michael O'Sullivan in "Waking Ned Devine," which included a rather memorable scene where Kelly rode a motorbike naked.

He received a lifetime achievement award at the 2005 Irish Film and Television Awards.

Kelly's final film was the 2007 fantasy flick "Stardust." According to the Telegraph, he passed away in the hospital after a short illness.

[via Telegraph]...

Irish stage and film actor David Kelly has died. He was 82. Best known to American audiences for his role as Grandpa Joe in the 2005 remake of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," Kelly's credits also included "Laws of Attraction," "The Jigsaw Man" and the original "Italian Job." In 1998, he earned a Screen Actor's Guild nomination for his portrayal of Michael O'Sullivan in "Waking Ned Devine," which included a rather memorable scene where Kelly rode a motorbike naked. He received a lifetime achievement award at the 2005 Irish Film and Television Awards. Kelly's final film was the 2007 fantasy flick "Stardust." According to the Telegraph, he passed away in the hospital after a short illness. [via Telegraph]...

The distinctive and beguiling Irish actor David Kelly, who has died aged 82, was as familiar a face in British television sitcoms as he was on the stage in Dublin, where he was particularly associated with the Gate theatre. But he was perhaps best known in recent years for playing Grandpa Joe in Tim Burton's movie adaptation of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), an engaging performance that was honoured with a lifetime achievement award from the Irish Film and Television Academy; Johnny Depp, who played Willy Wonka, paid a touching tribute on a video link from Hollywood to Dublin.

Kelly was a tall and flamboyant figure who was often cast as a comic, eccentric Irishman, notably as Albert Riddle, an incompetent, one-armed dish-washer in the late 1970s British sitcom Robin's Nest; he...