The actor Eamon Kelly has died aged 87. He is best remembered for his storytelling on RT╔ radio and television and on the stage, notably during the 1950s and 1960s.
Born in 1914 in Rathmore on the borders of Cork and Kerry, he was the eldest of eight children. He left school early to work with his father as a carpenter. This brought him into contact with the travelling stonemasons who were later to enrich his own stagecraft.
He won a scholarship to train as a woodwork instructor. Although he was involved in amateur acting, he did not enter the profession until the age of 37. In 1952, he joined the Radio ╔ireann Players. The year before that he married Maura O'Sullivan from Listowel - she had played Pegeen Mike to his Christy Mahon in Playboy of the Western World. His big breakthrough came in 1964 when he was cast as the father, S.B. O Donnell, in Hilton Edwards's production of Philadelphia Here I Come at the Gaiety Theatre.
Using silence as his tool, Kelly learned the lesson that fine acting is reacting. The production was an enormous success and transferred to Broadway. His moving performance marked him as one of our most gifted actors and earned him a Tony nomination. He toured the US. When he returned to Ireland he became a life member of the Abbey theatre.
Through his one-man shows, such as In my Father's Time and in the stage adaptation of sculptor Seamus Murphy's Stone Mad, Kelly fulfilled the dual roles of social historian and actor.
Mr Ben Barnes, artistic director of the Abbey, said Mr Kelly had made a huge contribution to Irish theatre. "Eamon was a great actor but also a great gentleman".