Actor and trustee of the Gate Theatre, Patrick Bedford, has died in New York aged 67. Mr Bedford had lived in the United States for many years, having gone there with Brian Friel's play Philadelphia Here I Come in 1966. It was one of the first Irish hits on Broadway and followed a successful run at the Gate. Known for his great love of the Gate, Mr Bedford relished the success of the newly refurbished theatre in recent times and always returned to Dublin for opening nights and trustee meetings.
He had for many years been part of the company formed by Hilton Edwards and Micheal Mac Liammoir and played a variety of roles in the 1950s and 1960s. He never lost his link with the Gate and once said that he had found no director he would rather work for than Hilton Edwards.
When Hilton Edwards died, he left the MacLiammoir and Edwards shareholdings in the theatre to Mr Bedford and Dublin architect Dr Michael Scott. In 1988, the ownership of the Gate was officially handed over to a trust. At the formation of the trust, Mr Bedford became a trustee.
Born and reared in Dublin, Mr Bedford first took part in amateur shows at the Father Mathew Hall, the old Peacock, and made his first professional appearance in the production of Tolka Row put on by Edwards and MacLiammoir in September 1951.
Following that, he spent three years with Ursula Doyle as her dancing partner in Jimmy O'Dea's pantomime I Was The Demon King. He also did a lot of work with Phyllis Ryan and on Hugh Leonard scripts for ABC television in Britain.
Then came Philadelphia Here I Come, which he described as the play of which he was most proud. He went to New York with it and, in the summer of 1966 he made the film Up The Down Staircase with Sandy Dennis, which he did not enjoy. He said at the time films terrified him. He also did a national tour of the United States with the musical 1776, which lasted for two years and went to 38 US cities.
After that, he returned to Dublin, having made enough money to buy a house, but returned to the United States because of the high rate of tax here.
He married US theatre critic Patricia O'Haire in 1984. Mr Bedford was taken into hospital in New York five weeks ago and died early yesterday.