Actor Shay Duffin R.I.P.

Actor Shay Duffin passed on April 23 at the age of 79. The cause was complications from open heart surgery.

Shay Duffin was born on 26 February, 1931 in Dublin, Ireland. He started his career in entertainment, singing in Irish pubs. In the early Sixties he moved to Canada. There he was part of an all-Irish theatrical company for five years. He also recorded albums as an Irish folk singer. It was while he was hosting a revue that he began work on a one man show on Irish writer Brendan Behan. His performance in the show would win a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award in 1975.

Shay Duffin made his television debut in the telefilm Law and Order (not to be confused with the long running NBC series of the same name) in 1975. On television he would guest star on Switch, Dynasty, Cagney and Lacey, and Murder She Wrote. He was a regular on the short lived series City and had a recurring role on Due South. He appeared in several television movies over the years, including The Amazing Howard Hughes, Captains Courageous, Mary and Joseph: A Story of Faith, and J. Edgar Hoover.

Shay Duffin made his film debut in The White Buffalo in 1977. He would go onto appear in such films as Butch and Sundance: The Early Days, The Main Event, The Frisco Kid, Raging Bull, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Newsies, Leprechaun, Seabiscuit, and The Still Life (his final appearance on screen). His last work was as the voice of the Scylding Watch in the computer animated Beowulf.