David Kelly Biography

Fast Facts

• For a revival of "The Playboy of the Western World at the Kennedy Center, he won a 1991 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Supporting Performer, Non-Resident Production
• The Irish Film & Television Academy honored him with a lifetime achievement award in 2005
• Started acting at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre when he was 8 and studied at the Abbey School of Acting, but also learned to be a draughtsman and calligrapher in case his acting career didn't pan out
• Worked extensively on the stages of Dublin, Ireland, in the 1950s and 1960s
• In Ireland, he was best known for playing a doomed tenement dweller, Rashers Tierney, in a 1980 historical miniseries "Strumpet City․"
• Rode the bus to work at RTE, an Irish broadcasting station, and would sit in the back memorizing his lines for the day
• Took up watercolor painting and became skilled in the art