“Wouldn’t it be something, Charlie, to open a bar of candy and find a Golden Ticket inside?”
Stage and screen actor David Kelly has passed away at the age of 82. The Dublin-born talent was widely known by American audiences as Grandpa Joe Bucket in Tim Burton’s film adaptation of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (2005).
Kelly earned a Screen Actors’ Guild nomination for his role in WAKING NED (1998), and was well known in his native Ireland for the historical drama mini-series STRUMPET CITY (1980), which co-starred Peter O’ Toole and Peter Ustinov. He received a lifetime achievement award at the 2005 Irish Film and Television Awards.
Other notable film roles for Kelly included Roman Polanski’s PIRATES (1986), and STARDUST (2007).
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Preferring the magic of STARDUST over the empty calories of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, this Blogger will always remember Kelly as the Guard in the former; a memorable and comedic role in which he played a weak and frail old watchman who could whip your ass with his big stick in a flash. His Grandpa Joe in CHARLIE also deserves recognition; It was a charming, funny and grounding performance that only he could have pulled off, and it added heart to the film.
Whatever he is doing now, he is sure to be doing a fine job of it.
“I’m charged with guarding the portal to another world, and you’re asking me to just let you through!”
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