ACTOR TP McKENNA has died at the age of 81. The former stalwart of the Abbey Theatre went on to perform with the Royal Shakespeare Company in England and appeared numerous TV shows and films including The Avengers, Ferry Cross the Mersey and Straw Dogs.

Born in Mullagh, Co Cavan, McKenna worked for Ulster Bank for a few years after school but became a full-time actor in Dublin instead of accepting a transfer to a bank branch back home in Cavan. It turned out to be the right move for him – he trod the boards at the Abbey for a decade before expanding his career with theatre roles in England.

His film and TV career spanned five decades. Many Irish fans will particularly remember his roles in The Sweeney, The Saint, The Avengers and Ballykissangel. However, he also turned to directing plays like Shadow of a Gunman and The Playboy of the Western World and had many feature roles opposite the likes of Dustin Hoffman in Straw Dogs and Gregory Peck and Christopher Plummer in The Scarlet and the Black.

His website posted a short tribute to the actor yesterday, saying that he had died at the Royal Free Hospital in London after a long illness. It read:

As an actor he was unique, as a friend and colleague he was exceptional, as a father he was irreplaceable.

The filmography on his website gives some idea as to the diversity of the roles McKenna played, noting that he had had to learn skills such as how to erect a large marquee, how to perform magic tricks and how to cook like a professional chef for some of his acting projects. It also says “TP has played everything from a grocer’s assistant to the voice of God”.

Tourism, Culture and Sport Minister Mary Hanafin paid tribute to McKenna this morning, saying:

TP was one of a great generation of Irish actors whose talents on the screen and stage both at home and abroad gave us all great pride in his accomplishments. His ability to take ownership of the characters he portrayed in a variety of genre is a credit to the breadth of his skill as an actor.

The best tribute to McKenna is his own performances. Here he is as Citizen (with the eyepatch from 1:35) in a James Joyce TV documentary: