Father Ted star Jon Kenny dies aged 66
Jon Kenny appeared in Father Ted, Les Misérables, and The Banshees of Inisherin. (RTE)
Jon Kenny, the Irish actor and comedian best known for his role as Fred Rickwood in the British sitcom Father Ted, has died at the age of 66.
His wife, Margy, confirmed the news on Friday (November 15).
The actor died while receiving treatment at Galway Clinic following a protracted battle with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a type of cancer that affects the lymph nodes. He was first diagnosed when he was in his 40s and later made a full recovery but the cancer came back in 2020.
Earlier this year, Kenny spoke on RTÉ about his diagnosis: “The cancer came back. I had it there again. I had it about three years ago, four years ago so I had some operation to remove some of my left lung and that was good. But didn’t the f***er come back again on my left lung again. I’ve been lucky now because my chemo is working so I’ve been grand.”
He added that after a second round of chemo, he was told he had heart failure, calling it “a nice little cocktail of things to be getting on with”.
In addition to his role in Father Ted, Kenny was also one half of the comedy duo D’Unbelievables alongside Pat Shortt as well as appearing Thénardier in the 1998 film adaptation of Les Misérables and as Mr Harvey in Insatiable.
More recently, he appeared in The Banshees of Inisherin which starred Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, and Barry Keoghan.
Tributes to the comedian have been pouring in since his death was announced, including from Simon Harris, the Taoiseach of Ireland.
In a statement, Harris said: “It is with the utmost sadness that I have learned of the death of writer, actor and comedian Jon Kenny. Jon had the ability, that very few people possess, to make his audiences crack up laughing with a glance or a single word.”
“To Jon’s family, friends and huge circle of colleagues and peers, I am truly sorry for your loss. May he rest in peace.”
Graham Linehan, one of the co-creators of Father Ted, also paid tribute to Kenny.
“Ah, no John Kenny checked out. You’ll know him from Father Ted but I first saw him in D’unbelievables where he and Pat Short did a whole show as if the audience were guests at a wedding. Never saw anything like it. RIP and love to his family and friends,” he wrote on X.
Linehan has previously been outspoken about his anti-trans views, leading to cancellations of at least two of his comedy gigs and a proposed Father Ted musical being axed due to his rhetoric.
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