David Kelly - Telegraph Kelly, who was 70 when he made the film, claimed to have acquired the status of a sex symbol with a scene in which his naked, skinny frame is seen disappearing in a cloud of dust on a Honda 50. In 2005 he won further acclaim for his performance as Grandpa Joe Bucket opposite Johnny Depp in Tim Burton's version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Kelly was also celebrated as a stage actor who brought whimsy and wit to the works of playwrights from Shakespeare to Samuel Beckett. His 1959 performance in the title (and solo) role of Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape was described as "legendary" by the Irish Times, and he reprised the part in the 1990s both in Ireland and further afield - though his performance in New York, as he liked to recall, had been greeted with a review under the headline "This was the Krapp we've been waiting for." David Kelly was born in Dublin on July 11 1929 and educated at Synge Street Christian Brothers School, an establishment he referred to as "Stalag Luft 3" . He first appeared on stage, aged eight, at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre, and later trained at the city's Abbey Theatre School, also taking a course in calligraphy at the Irish National College of Art so that he had a trade to fall back on when acting jobs were in short supply. By the 1950s Kelly had become a regular at Dublin's Gate Theatre, though he also played major roles in all the city's leading theatres. A meeting with the playwright Hugh Leonard, who was working with the BBC, brought him to London; and he went on to appear in radio shows such as The Archers and in television series such as Public Eye (1966), Z Cars (1972), Me Mammy (1970-71) and the sitcoms Oh Father! (1973) and Cowboys (1980-81). On film, he appeared with Kevin Spacey in Ordinary Decent Criminal (2000); with Helen Mirren and Clive Owen in Greenfingers (2000); and with Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer in Stardust (2007). Away from acting, Kelly was known as a natty dresser with a love of flamboyant bow ties. He enjoyed painting in watercolour. He married, in 1961, Laurie Morton, who survives him with a son and daughter. David Kelly, born July 11 1929, died February 12 2012