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Irish actor David Kelly was 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 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 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. He died at age 82 in 2012,