Biography
Irish actor David Kelly is probably best known to worldwide audiences for his role as Michael O'Sullivan in the 1998 comedy hit
Waking Ned (known in the U.S. as
Waking Ned Devine) and for several roles in the cult
John Cleese TV series
Fawlty Towers. However, he has also performed in other major productions, including
Ordinary Decent Criminal (2000), starring
Kevin Spacey; the TV miniseries
Kidnapped (1995), starring
Armand Assante;
A Man of No Importance (1994), starring
Albert Finney; and the TV miniseries
Scarlett (1994), starring
Timothy Dalton.
Kelly was born in Dublin on July 11, 1929. After undergoing training at Dublin's Abbey Theatre, he became a stage actor. Over the years, he has performed in productions of William Shakespeare, Samuel Beckett, Brendan Behan, Arthur Miller, and William Butler Yeats. He has also acted in film adaptations of the works of James Joyce and Victor Hugo. Kelly's screen career began in 1958, when he appeared in
Dublin Nightmare. Five years later, he landed a role in the TV series
Doctor Who. After appearing in scores of other film, TV, and stage productions in the '60s, '70s, '80s, and '90s, Kelly continued to remain active in the new century in such films as Happy As Larry (2002),
Mean Machine (2001), Rough for Theatre 1 (2000),
Greenfingers (2000), and the previously mentioned
Kevin Spacey film. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide