Comedy actor Brendan Grace dead at 68

Irish actor Brendan Grace, best known as Father Fintan Stack in the hit sitcom and schoolboy character Bottler died at the age of 68. He was battling lung cancer. 

Reports suggest that Brendan was taken to a hospital in Ireland for treatment where he is said to have died “peacefully” in the early hours of the morning. 

Just last week, Brendan was forced to cancel his scheduled summer tour of Ireland and the UK after being diagnosed with the life-threatening illness. He had earlier lost two toes to gangrene after being diagnosed with diabetes and suffered a stroke last year – but continued performing comedy live.

Professionally, Brendan was a famous comedian and enjoyed an illustrious career spanning over 40 years.

He was also a professional singer and in 1975 recorded the original version of ‘Combine Harvester’, which The Wurzels covered a year later. It went to number one in Ireland.