Reply With QuoteHere's a link tv horror.
Dermot Kelly - IMDb
wec
Can anyone tell me anything about the comedy actor Dermot kelly, I know that he used to co-star on the Arthur Haynes show, thanks in advance.
Here's a link tv horror.
Dermot Kelly - IMDb
wec
Thank you for the quick reply and link, I do however have another question maybe you can help me with it. I came across another actor with a similar sounding name called Diarmuid Kelly are they one and the same, I found his name while looking for the first dermot, thanks.
Hello there. I remember reading a letter to the TVTimes asking for information on Dermot Kelly and some details were supplied. Give me a couple of days and I should be able to find it for you. This would probably be when he was appearing in The Arthur Haynes Show, circa Early 1960s. I think the IMDb has all the dates of transmission from this period and this will help me find the article.
On a different subject, I remember you wanted something else from the TVTimes some time ago - listings for tragic series Tales of Mystery.
In case you missed them, please revisit this thread:
There was an actor called David Blake Kelly who lived 1916-1993. Notice the date his filmography starts:
David Blake Kelly - IMDb
Then there was Diarmuid Kelly whose screen career seemed to end in 1957:
IMDb - Diarmuid Kelly
David's death record in 1993 registers him as Diarmuid Blake Kelly. Could these two actors be the same person? Maybe Diarmuid altered his first name to David in the late 1950s for screen purposes as he considered it more user-friendly for those days?
E.
If it is the same person then you can merge those two entries in the IMDb. But make sure you know that it is the same person because it's very hard to undo a mergeOriginally Posted by Euryale
Steve
I can certainly provide a screencap of David Blake Kelly. If anyone can add one of Diarmuid Kelly, then hopefully it can be determined if it's the same bloke.
David Blake Kelly:
Diarmuid Kelly anyone?
Apologies to tv horror for diverting from the thread of the thread.
This is Diarmuid Kelly in the The Mystery of Ireland's Eye episode from the TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood -1957, I think:
Looks like he could be the same actor as in Gerald's picture.
E.
Courtesy of Aveleyman...Aveleyman - Dermot Kelly
These two are clearly not the same person...... QED
Thank you for the replies, he seems to get around or at least his name, I'm not sure how to post photo's but I came across a dvd cover that might help. It is for The Anatomist starring Alistair Sim, the cover shows Burke and Hare as played by Michael Ripper and Diarmuid Kelly! Can anyone post this image to confirm if it is him or not, thanks.
Last edited by tv horror; 22-10-11 at 01:04 AM. Reason: bad spelling
Hang on in there, tv horror. I hope to find that TVTimes article over the weekend. In the meantime, here is the DVD cover you requested:
Well, he's not Dermot Kelly, but I think the pinched nose of the other gent fairly clearly indicates Diarmuid Kelly = David Blake Kelly.
It's not just the photographic evidence either. Dermot Kelly gave an interview to the Irish Digest in 1964, where he talks about his background and establishing himself in London around 1959, after acting in Ireland for many years. Diarmuid Kelly was active on the British stage and screen several years before that.
This is part of Dermot's interview:
'The most popular tramp in Britain today is a moth-eaten, shuffling, cunning, illogical bundle of old clothes and deceits which is rapidly making its creator one of the best-known television artistes, in London.
Dermot Kelly is the name. He is neat, dapper, five-foot-two, very serious about acting and the stage and very thankful indeed to be the "owner" of that London-Irish tramp, Kelly, a raffish, unconquerable rogue known to millions of viewers.
"It all happened a few years ago in London when I wandered into a pub in Praed Street with a friend" says Dermot. "There was this chap with a fearsome coat, broken boots, hair like a haystack. I knew he was Irish by the sound of him, so I bought him something � I don't drink myself � and got to know him. I asked him did he like England?" "Like England?" he said, recoiling from me. "This blankety-blank country? Isn't fit for humans, this isn't". Then I asked him how long he had been in London. "Thirty years," he said. And he added: "But I'm not staying!" Here was the germ-idea of a character that first strutted the boards in Johnny Speight's The Knacker's Yard three years ago. Dermot Kelly's London-Irish tramp went down so well with the audience that Speight included a tramp part in the Arthur Haynes TV show......and the rest is TV history. "That tramp changed my life, very much for the better," said Dermot, "He gave me a healthy income for one thing � for the first time in my life."
Now forty-three, Dermot was born in Enniskillen and brought up in Dublin � and he has been acting ever since he was thirteen. "I went off travelling with the fit-up theatres around the country," he told me, "I spent ten long, cold years on the road; and although I wouldn't care to go through it again, I'm glad I didn't miss that experience." Life could be tough in the old fit-ups, he admitted. One evening he was taking part in a performance of East Lynne in a tent theatre "A cow wandered in, knocking over some of the supporting poles, and down came the canvas on the heads of audience, cast, and cow," says Dermot. The cow was cast forth, the tent was re-erected, the play went on. "It had to," said Dermot, "The audience paid to see it, and see it they would." For some time now Dermot has been writing a book on his experiences with the fit-ups. "Some people may find it bitter reading" he says, "When I was on the road actors and artistes were widely regarded as rogues and vagabonds � 'play-actors', who were not to be trusted."
After the road came the Abbey � and for ten years Dermot was member of that famous company. "I went on tour with the Abbey all over the provinces," he said, "Why can't the Abbey go on tour now, even if it results in a loss?" Dermot has been in London for about five years. "I went for a few weeks to play in The Heart's a Wonder," he said, "Then Associated Rediffusion asked asked me to play Neighbour in The Quare Fella � and I've been in London ever since." But it wasn't until he met his tramp friend four years ago, and script-writer Speight filled out the character so convincingly, that Dermot has become really well known. "My little tramp is a vehicle people are very fond of, and I'm very lucky indeed to have found him," he said frankly. "Being a success on television depends a lot on projecting a character with a quality people will like. My tramp seems to appeal to a lot of people."
E.
Interesting mention of a Rediffusion TV production of The Quare Fellow?
He was in the movie version that starred Patrick McGoohan, in 1962.
It looks like he was a founding member of the play too, in 1954..........
Irish Playography
NeighbourDermot Kelly
Last edited by Moor Larkin; 23-10-11 at 10:47 PM.
Interesting mention of a Rediffusion TV production of The Quare Fellow?
He was in the movie version that starred Patrick McGoohan, in 1962.
It looks like he was a founding member of the play too, in 1954..........
Irish Playography
Neighbour Dermot Kelly
Yes, I'm guessing that it was the production broadcast on 5/11/1958 - I can't find any cast list but it tells you a bit about it on this web page at no.24:
100 television stage plays: [3] ITV, 1955-1964 � SCREEN PLAYS
E.
I've just found a cast list at the CTVA website and Dermot was indeed in it:
ITV Play of the Week: THE QUARE FELLOW
05Nov58 ITV Wed 8:30-10:00pm
Written by Brendan Behan
Starring:
Wilfrid Brambell
Dermot Kelly
E.
Last edited by Euryale; 23-10-11 at 11:50 PM. Reason: more info.
This is Dermot on the right with Barry Keegan in an Abbey Theatre production of Juno and the Paycock, possibly 1969 (from the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama):
Dermot in the first Irish production of Waiting for Godot at the Pike Theatre, Dublin 1955 (from A History of Irish Theatre, 1601-2000):
There is some info. about Dermot's Abbey career here:
Kelly, Dermot | Abbey Archives | Abbey Theatre - Amharclann na Mainistreach
Apparently, Richard Lester had originally wanted Dermot for the Grandfather role in A Hard Day's Night, but it finally went to Wilfrid Brambell.
E.
A surprise return to this thread. I found this while searching, in vain, for details on an episode of About Religion that starred Jane Merrow:
Evening Times, 13th April 1963
Last edited by cornershop15; 09-01-14 at 02:58 AM.
Well, I hope we can put one thing right about Dermot. All sources that I've seen say that he died in Hampshire in 1980. Indeed there was a man of that name who died in Portsmouth in that year, but it wasn't the actor.
In fact, "our Dermot" died in Dublin on 18th February 1980 as this article from the Irish Independent, 19/2/80, tells us:
Again all sources seem to give Dermot's d.o.b. as 15th May 1918 but I can't yet find any record to check this against.
E.
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