Dermot Morgan

Irish comedian and actor Dermot Morgan is best remembered for playing a range of comic characters who satirized institutions, from the Catholic Church to Ireland's political establishment. Raised as a devout Catholic in Dublin, Morgan initially had thoughts of joining the priesthood but instead decided to become a schoolteacher. He left his teaching post in 1979 to join the Mike Murphy comedy variety show "The Live Mike," writing and performing sketches that included one of his best-loved characters: a smug Catholic priest called "Father Trendy." With the show's success, Morgan was shoehorned into several failed TV pilots. He did not return to a regular series until the late '80s, when he joined the Saturday evening chat program "Kenny Live." However, his most lasting contribution to broadcasting during this time was not in TV but in radio, as co-scriptwriter of the politically oriented weekly series "Scrap Saturday." The program won acclaim for its savage criticism of politicians--both liberals and conservatives--earning Morgan a prestigious Jacob's Award in 1991. In his final TV role, Morgan once again played a priest on the absurdist British sitcom "Father Ted." On February 28, 1998, a few days shy of his 46th birthday, Morgan suffered a fatal heart attack.