Banshees of Inisherin star Gary Lydon dies ‘suddenly’ aged 61

Award-winning actor Gary Lydon has died aged 61, it has been confirmed.

The British-Irish stage and screen star is best known for playing Garda Peadar Kearney in The Banshees of Inisherin (2022), which also starred Barry Keoghan and Colin Farrell.

Directed by Martin McDonagh, the black tragicomedy was nominated for nine Oscars.

In his role, Lydon was the father of Keoghan’s troubled Dominic Kearney.

His other credits include Patrick Murray, the counsellor on RTÉ One’s The Clinic, from 2003 to 2009, a role that won him an Irish Film and Television Award (IFTA) for best supporting actor.

He also played Inspector Stanton in Calvary (2014) and Chief Superintendent in the TV series Love/Hate, released the same year.

Internationally, he appeared as Si Easton in War Horse (2011) and as Mr Farrell in Brooklyn (2015), which co-starred Saoirse Ronan.

Lydon’s death was announced today.

It is believed to have happened ‘suddenly’, leaving his community in Wexford shocked, given that he was born in London but moved to the town in southeast Ireland at the age of nine.

It’s reported that, in recent years, he was based in Co.

Roscommon with his wife, Kara Doherty, daughter of the late Irish Fianna Fáil politician Seán Doherty.

Paying tribute to the performer, the Wexford Arts Centre recalled how he had just recently returned to their stage in the play Of Mornington, which marked his final job and featured Lydon’s son, James.

‘Gary had honed his craft as one of the finest actors in Ireland on the Wexford Arts Centre stage in many of Billy Roche’s plays,’ their tribute said.

‘He forged a stellar career performing across Ireland & the UK.

‘Gary had also supported development of new plays in our Wexford Playwrights Studio taking part in a stage reading of Lights Out by Hannan McNiven produced by Four River Theatre behind closed doors during Covid.’
They added affectionately: ‘The lights in the theatre world are dimmer due to the loss of Gary, but we will cherish the memories of his performances with reverence.

‘Deepest sympathies to his family, friends, stage & screen colleagues & to Billy Roche, his creative alliance collaborator for over forty years.’
‘Shocked to hear my old friend Gary Lydon died suddenly today,’ a pal also wrote on social media alongside an old photo.

‘I knew him as Gary O Brien when we were in school,’ he recalled, with Lydon taking on his mother Julie Lydon’s maiden name when he got into performing, as there was already an actor named Gary O’Brien.

‘He’d a London accent and wore a Quadrophenia Parka and was a tour de force, we laughed hard together,’ the old friend added.

‘He’ll be sorely missed by many.

Ni bheidh a leithead ann arís.’
Joining in the tributes was Irish journalist Pádraig Byrne, who said on X that he interviewed Lydon ‘a few weeks back and he was so down to Earth for such a big talent’.

@elizaja71705453 declared him a ‘mighty fine actor’, while @Thejanitor14 called him a ‘very reliable presence in TV and films over the years’.

‘Very sad news – I worked with Gary on a number of films over the years and he was always a Gent.

RIP’, added filmmaker Des Doyle.

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