Kenny Ireland

George Ian Kenneth "Kenny" Ireland (7 August 1945 – 31 July 2014)[3] was a Scottish actor and theatre director. Ireland was best known to television viewers for his role in Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV in the 1980s, and for playing Donald Stewart in Benidorm from 2007 until his death in 2014.

Kenny Ireland
Ireland in character as Donald Stewart from the comedy TV series Benidorm
Born	George Ian Kenneth Ireland 7 August 1945 Paisley, Scotland, UK [1]
Died	July 31, 2014 (aged 68) London, England, UK
Occupation	Actor, theatre director
Years active	1965–2014[2]
Spouse(s)	Marilyn Imrie (divorced) Meg Poole (1980–2014; his death)
Children	1 step-daughter

Career

Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Ireland was prominent in Scottish theatre and spent ten years as director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. When he left the post in 2003 he controversially attacked the Scottish arts establishment for providing "theatre on the cheap" and the Scottish Executive for putting plans for a National Theatre of Scotland on "the back burner".[4] The National Theatre of Scotland was finally launched in 2006. He also appeared in an episode of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet as journalist Sid Payne. In some early TV appearances (e.g. the BBC's "Five Red Herrings") he was credited as "Ian Ireland".

Ireland's directing credits include Guys & Dolls, A View from the Bridge, Romeo and Juliet, Phaedra, Macbeth, Lovers, The Anatomist, Clay Bull, Mother Courage, Much Ado About Nothing, Of Mice and Men, Private Lives, Oleanna, The Gowk Storm, Waiting for Godot, Dancing at Lughnasa, Oedipus Tyrannos and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

He also appeared in Acorn Antiques, the STV series Taggart, the 1983 film Local Hero, Dempsey and Makepeace episode "In the Dark", Series 2 of Auf Wiedersehen Pet, the 1990 series House of Cards as media tycoon Benjamin Landless starring alongside Ian Richardson as Francis Urquhart, and the David Leland film The Big Man with Liam Neeson. He was also in Heartbeat and made a brief appearance in the promo video for Tracey Ullman's "Sunglasses".

He appeared in the television series Benidorm as swinger Donald Stewart from 2007 until the end of series 6, that aired in early 2014. In June 2014, it was announced that he had brain cancer. His character did not appear in the seventh series of Benidorm in person but the character's voice was heard on a telephone call, albeit provided by a sound-a-like.[5][6][7]

Death

Ireland died of cancer on 31 July 2014 aged 68.[8]

Filmography

Film[9]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1972	The Hound of the Baskervilles	Sir Henry Baskerville	Television film
1980	The Dogs of War	Film crew member	Feature film
1982	Moonlighting	Timber man
1983	Local Hero	Skipper
1984	The Young Visiters	Alfred Salteena
1985–1987	Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV	Derek	9 episodes
1986	Auf Wiedersehen, Pet	Sid Payne	1 episodes
1987	Life Without George	Sammy	6 episodes
	City Lights	Bank Rober
	A Hazard of Hearts	Padlett	Television film
1988	Salome's Last Dance	1st soldier	Feature film
	Drowning by Numbers	Jonah Bognor
1989	Hard Cases	Slow Michael
	Resurrected	Denzil Clausen	Feature film
1990	The Big Man	Tony
	Drop the Dead Donkey	Sound man
	Rab C. Nesbitt	Gavin Clark
	House of Cards	Ben Landless
1991	Spatz	Johnnie
	4 Play	Sammy Duncan
1992	El C.I.D.	Angus
1993	Punch Drunk	Vinnie Binns	6 episodes
1997	Hamish Macbeth	Torquil McFarquar
1999	Taggart	Kenny Murdoch
	Loose Women	Himself
2003	Monarch of the Glen	Mike Baxter
	My Dad's the Prime Minister	Union leader
2004	Heartbeat	Zeph Pratt
2005	Casualty	Joshua Wright
	New Tricks	George Morton
	Rose and Maloney	Mr. Hawkins the prison officer
2007–2014	Benidorm	Donald Stewart	Series regular, 42 episodes (Series 1–6)
2009	Beyond a Joke	Himself
2011	All Star Family Fortunes		Benidorm vs. The Only Way is Essex
2012	This Morning		Interview
	Doctors	Godfrey Lang
	Midsomer Murders	George Dormer
2013	Loose Women	Himself	Interview

References

1. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0409874/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm
2. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0409874/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm
3. Hayward, Anthony (31 July 2014). "Kenny Ireland obituary". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
4. "Scots getting theatre 'on the cheap'". Scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com. 24 February 2002. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
5. "'Benidorm' Star Kenny Ireland Fighting Cancer". Huffingtonpost.co.uk. 23 June 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
6. "Benidorm star Kenny Ireland battling cancer – Showbiz News". Digital Spy. 23 June 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
7. "Benidorm Star Kenny Ireland is 'battling cancer' – Yahoo TV UK". Uk.tv.yahoo.com. 23 June 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
8. "BBC News – Benidorm actor Kenny Ireland dies from cancer aged 68". bbc.com. 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2014."Kenny Ireland obituary". The Guardian. 31 July 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
9. "Kenny Ireland – IMDb". Retrieved 31 July 2014.

External links

• Kenny Ireland at IMDb