Still crazy after all these years
In a remarkable interview, the legendary David Kelly looks back on a long and adventurous career including parts in box office smashes, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and Waking Ned.
Jason O'Toole, 07 Oct 2008
As the minuscule dictaphone is placed down on the table, David Kelly says, in his instantly recognisable thespian accent: “They are wonderful. They are so small. The wonderful thing about them is, it stops men saying mine is bigger than yours! Now they are saying mine is smaller than yours!”
The 78-year-old veteran character actor, who is accurately described on the Wikipedia page devoted to him as having “quirky looks”, started performing in the Gaiety Theatre at the tender age of eight. Since his screen debut in 1957, Kelly has appeared constantly on television and in films. He’s played lots of small parts in big films and as many big parts in small films. He had blink-and-you’ll-miss ‘em roles in the likes of The Italian Job and Straight Time, but the movie parts have gotten bigger as he’s headed towards retirement age. When I point out to him that career-wise, the last 15 years have been amazingly good, Kelly laughs.
“They’ve been great,” he agrees, “because all the competition is dead – they’re all gone!”
Joking aside, Kelly acknowledges that things could have turned out very differently. As he revealed during this very personal interview, he might – like many of Ireland’s leading actors and writers – have drunk himself into an early grave. Instead, he knocked the booze on the head and focused on the work. From that moment on, things clicked for him. After his appearances in Fawlty Towers and Strumpet City, bigger offers started to roll in, particularly for TV shows and theatre. Kelly then had a co-starring role in Roman Polanski’s Pirates, followed by a solid performance in Jim Sheridan’s Into The West. He belatedly hit the big time Stateside in 1998, when he played the lead role in Waking Ned, which resulted in a Best Actor nomination from the Screen Actors Guild. It was a film that also turned him into an unusual sex symbol – thanks to his ‘Full Monty’ scenes – for the OAP generation!
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