Michael Patrick, ca. 1991 - 2026

Irish actor and playwright Michael Patrick, 35, died of motor neuron disease (which also killed his father) on April 7. Patrick acted with the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Abbey Theatre, The Lyric Theatre, and Northern Ireland Opera; with writing partner Oisín Kearney, he penned the autobiographical plays My Left Nut and My Right Foot. He also acted in 20-some movies and TV shows, including Game of Thrones, The Keeper, Bravery Under Fire, Krypton, The Spectacular, Blasts from the Past, Blue Lights, This Town, and TV versions of Measure for Measure and Taming of the Shrew. At the Lyric Theatre in Belfast, Patrick played Richard III in a wheelchair, saying that “In Shakespeare's version Richard III is deformed from birth. They found his skeleton in a car park and it looked like he had scoliosis. We changed it so that at the start of the play Richard gets news that he's got a terminal illness, something like MND that's going to get worse.”