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LAST UPDATE | 11 Jul 2019
COMEDIAN BRENDAN GRACE has died aged 68, his representative has confirmed.
The veteran comedian, who regularly drew large audiences to his live shows, announced earlier this month that he was cancelling a number of tour dates in July and August so he could receive medical treatment.
He was initially hospitalised with pneumonia but it was later discovered he was also suffering from lung cancer.
Brendan’s business manager, Tom Kelly, issued the following statement:
“Brendan Grace passed away peacefully early this morning at surrounded by his loving family. Aged 68 he will be fondly remembered by his legion of fans at home and abroad.”
After starting his career as a musician in the 1960s, Grace went on to widespread standup and TV success in Ireland.
His performances of much-loved routines like ‘Father of the Bride’ and ‘Chinese Takeaway’ built a loyal audience for his shows and his one-off specials consistently achieved high ratings for TV3, prompting the broadcaster to commission an animated special based on his schoolboy character ‘Bottler’.
Grace won over a new generation of fans in the 1990s as a result of his turn as malevolent priest Fr Fintan Stack in the Father Ted series.
Over the course of his career he also toured with Frank Sinatra and John Denver.
He had a number one hit in Ireland with his song Combine Harvester – later covered by The Wurzels in the UK, where it also reached number one.
Even after he was firmly established as a comedian, music regularly featured in his act – he often closed shows with renditions of songs like Dublin in the Rare Ould Times.
He lived in Florida in recent years, making regular returns to Ireland to perform.
Tom Kelly told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland the comedian was “one of the great entertainers of this era”.
“You could see at every show how people just warmed to him.
On nights when the audience might not have been very warm – that very seldom happened – he could turn around, pick up his guitar and sing a song with great authority.
Said Kelly: “All in all, we can look back with pride at Brendan’s lifetime. Great family man, very close to his family. Just adored by his fans all over the country and indeed abroad as well. His popularity spread right around the world.”
President Michael D Higgins said as a comedian Grace’s “spontaneous wit and his sense of timing, his obvious delighting in interaction with his audiences, meant that Brendan’s sense of humour was drawing from, and itself a profound contribution to, the deep wellspring of Irish wit”.
“His best-loved characters will endure, precisely because they are both recognisable and representative of the experiences lived and recalled by Irish people of all ages.
As President of Ireland, I express my deepest condolences to his wife Eileen, his children Bradley, Melanie, Brendan and Amanda, and to his wider family and his friends, and all who valued his acuity and sharp sense of humour.
Fellow comedian and Mrs Browns Boys creator Brendan O’Carroll tweeted this morning that Grace had opened doors “for so many of us” in showbusiness “and leaves a legacy of love and laughter that will echo through this land”.
O’Carroll added “we will all mourn his passing”.
Rest peacefully Bottler, you’ve earned it.
Comedian June Rogers told Morning Ireland that Brendan will be “sorely missed by a lot of people in Ireland”.
“He was very kind to me when I started out. There was one song he had called Bridget McCann and I remember contacting him and asking him would it be possible for me to use it. I was doing a show at the time and he very kindly gave it to me.
“He was very much a wonderful family man.”
Brendan was cast in the Father Ted series as the aforementioned Fr Fintan Stack, a role that brought him to a new audience. The show’s co-creator Arthur Matthews told The Ryan Tubridy Show this morning that he “always liked the idea of casting people I knew as a kid and was a fan of”.
“We didn’t write it [the part] with him in mind but he did an audition. It was different from what we expected but it was very funny.
“It was more subtle really and a bit more passive-aggressive than outwardly aggressive. It was really sinister,” Matthews joked.
He was a legend, he really was. It’s a big loss definitely.
RTÉ Director-General, Dee Forbes described Brendan as one of Ireland’s original funnymen and pioneer of Irish comedy.
“While there are now many Irish comedians who are household names, Brendan emerged as a talent during an era when there were very few established Irish comedians.
Importantly, he also paved the way for many of the wonderful comedians this country has produced over the last 20 years or so and leaves behind a legacy he and his family can be proud of. He will be deeply missed. My thoughts and those of his many friends and fans across RTÉ are with his family and friends at this sad time.
In October 2018, to mark Brendan’s 50 years in the entertainment business, RTÉ screened the documentary, Brendan Grace – Funny Man. The documentary will be repeated at 10.15pm on RTÉ One tonight.
Dublin City Council has opened a book of condolence for fans to pay their respects to the much loved Dublin comedian.
Lord Mayor Paul McAuliffe described Brendan as “a true Dubliner who captured the unique Dublin sense of humour and brought it to audiences at home and across the world”.
The Mansion House will be open to the public today from 12 noon until 5pm and from 10am to 5pm tomorrow.
Brendan is survived by his wife Eileen, children and grandchildren.
- With reporting from Adam Daly
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Good to see progress in this at last
More glass square blocks going up. No creative architects left in Ireland?
Really? I think the new buildings look great: http://img2.thejournal.ie/inline/1811683/original/?width=630&version=1811683
Paul they’re a good design but not tall enough for such a prime part of town.
They do look good, but as soon as those wooden panels get neglected they will look shabby. You see it all over the city with them. That place across from the Merrion gates looks like a kip due to the state of them over the past 7-10 years.
Fair point about the Elm Park site at Merrion gates but that’s not timber on the elevation…its terracotta (if I recall correctly from the planning application)
is there any chance they will demolish liberty hall next?
They are trying to replace it but so far have been refused planning
Many fond memories photographing the city on the roof of the old Silo’s. They will not be missed and I look forward to seeing what replaces them.
I don’t think it is finished when i looked in there yesterday there was still standing walls from the old silos as well as a huge amount of rubble sitting there.
Good to see progress. The only pity is the lack of height in probably the most prime commercial location in the city. They could easily justify sleek 25 storey towers there.
You don’t know what your talking about, the huge piles of rubble is the concrete from the silos that has been crushed for recycling , and the walls still standing are nothing to do with the silos
A “demolition” job is finished when the job is brought down to ground level with no rubble remaining. I saw half a wall standing on the north side of the site with equipment in there still breaking up the rubble.
So u work at demolition then Fred lol, you don’t know what your taking about
We should contact the local councilors and complain about the buildings being too short: http://www.dublincity.ie/main-menu-your-council-your-city-councillors-find-your-local-councillors/south-east-area-councillors.
Why are they building low rise? Stupid and bad landing. There should be high rise towers going up in that part of the city
From Grand Canal Dock you can see the Aviva from outside Fresh through the gap. It’s a point of view that will only exist for a short time.
During the Easter Rising Boland’s Mills was seized by members of the 3rd Battalion of the Irish Volunteers led by Éamon De Valera: perhaps as few as 100-130 poorly armed Volunteers were involved and was to serve as the headquarters of the Volunteers in a large region of Dublin’s south inner city.
Is it too sunny for a protest?
No, but I’d say it’s a bit late!
The silos were built in the 1950s
It’s always too sunny for a protest in the wrong place. .. the site you refer to is up at grand canal street
Didn’t stop the SF Moore Street protestors demanding a non-existent building on Moore st. in 1916 being protected.
So I don’t think you have a valid point.
Ugly Concrete Silos from the 1950s, I dont think anyone will mourn them . Some of the stone buildings near the front are being incorporated into the design that they date back to the rising
I think he does have a valid point considering the building that you are thinking of isn’t even on the same street.
Dev occupied Boland’s bakery, a site which is now occupied by The Treasury Building.
You know that the Bolands Mills of 1916 is on Grand Canal Street where the NTMA now is?
How many times Lord oh Lord dies this have to be pointed out???
Should have been preserved, great men fought there
Ideal site for social housing..
There’s too much social housing in the city center. Put them out in the suburbs.
have your say