Late comedian Brendan Grace will have his life’s dream fulfilled after friends and family ressurected his most ambitious venture following his death.
The wheels are in motion to get the legendary showman’s pet project – a film entitled the Spirit of Saint Patrick – into production and on to the big screen.
Father Ted star Brendan first started working on the script 20 years ago and he finished it, with director Damian O’Callaghan and Luke Corcoran, two days before he died.
His daughter Melanie told Dublin Live: “We are moving heaven and earth to fulfil his dying wishes.
“We are trying to carry out any dreams that he didn’t get to accomplish. We made a promise and we’ll stick to it and try to do as much of it as we can.”
Director Damian O’Callaghan, who is also involved with The Spirit of Saint Patrick, described Brendan as “a naturally gifted entertainer who was also a superb actor”.
He added: “Brendan was such an amazing storyteller. We built up a great friendship. When he approached me about his idea I wanted to be involved straight away.”
Damian visited Brendan two days before his death to bring him the news that his 20-year pipe dream had come to fruition.
He said: “When I told him it was finished at the clinic he smiled at me and said ‘go for it, get it done’.”
There was a national outpouring of grief when iconic performer Brendan died of lung cancer on July 11 age 67, less than a month after being admitted to hospital with pneumonia.
The multi-talented funnyman took ill before he got to finish a three-part documentary about dementia entitled Thanks for the Memories, which will begin airing on RTE One next week.
Melanie revealed: “We finished the documentary the day after the funeral and that was very tough. Dad had a very special connection with the Forget-Me-Not choir. Dementia was the disease he probably feared most, for himself and for his friends and family.”
The first part of the poignant series opens with a frail-looking Brendan lying in his hospital bed hooked up to an oxygen tank – a scene shot just days before his death.
Looking straight at the camera he says in a raspy voice: “Hiya folks, this is Brendan Grace here, not as well as I usually am.
“But I set out to do a documentary and in wanted to dedicate it to Alzheimers and dementia, and I’m glad that we’re going ahead with it even though I’m not very well.”
The much-loved comedian’s family were centre-stage at a concert in the Olympia earlier this week where the choir performed ‘The Dutchman’, a song about dementia that was close to Brendan’s heart.
Melanie said: “Hearing that song is very moving for our mam Eileen, especially since dad’s death. It took her, and all of us, to our knees to hear it on Tuesday night.
“It’s been hard but we’ve been incredibly moved by the level of support. We knew that dad was a well-loved figure but we’ve had so many beautiful messages it’s been incredible.
“To be grieving so publicly has been exhausting but it’s the public that has carried us so we are so grateful.
“His death has affected the whole nation.”
One man contacted the family to tell how Brendan paid for his tank of petrol one day after he’d forgotten his wallet – and when he came to a gig to pay him back the funnyman refused.
Another woman recalled how her idol had taken her address and sent her a copy of his kids’ book when she was a child because the heroine was a redhead just like her.
Fans will see comedian Brendan in an upcoming Irish film called Tradition about a GAA referee who goes missing under unusual circumstances.
The Fr Stack actor will once again play the role of a priest who is called upon to act as a character witness in court.
Melanie said: “We often joked and said was it supposed to be dad’s calling, to be a priest. And then we’d say, definitely not!”
The first episode of Thanks for the Memories airs on Monday 30 September at 9.35pm on RTE One.
