Dozens of fans and famous faces have taken to Twitter to remember the beloved presenter for his career, charity work and talent.
The TV star, also known for his drag queen persona Lily Savage, died “unexpectedly but peacefully,” his husband Andre Portasio said in a statement.
Dozens of fans and famous faces have taken to Twitter to remember the beloved presenter for his career, charity work and talent.
A few Irish names in the industry joined in and shared their own tributes to O’Grady online.
Former Miss Ireland Amanda Brunker wrote about her pleasant encounter with O’Grady as she called him “a comedy legend”.
“I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Paul O’Grady once in London at a breakfast club around 6:30am. He was such a gentleman and so proud of his Irish heritage. He will always be a comedy legend and an all round goodie,” she wrote.
Author Seamas O’Reilly, author of the bestselling book Did Ye Hear Mammy Died?, shared a clip from his talk show Paul O’Grady Live in 2010 in which he criticized the policies of the British Conservative Party.
He wrote: “RIP to Paul O’Grady. I suppose we’ll be seeing this clip a lot today, but it can’t be shown enough.
“I’d like to know what went into the broadcast and if he ever had a backlash. I’ve never seen anything so dazzling, genuinely angry on Consensus Approved TV since.”
Fair City star Rory Cowan said O’Grady was “sick with talent” as he wrote: “Oh no this is terrible news. Paul O’Grady was one of the funniest comedians of all time. He was sick with talent. It oozed from every pore of his body. A very funny and kind man passed away tonight. So sad”.
And across the pond, tributes are pouring in, with British celebrities like Lorraine Kelly speaking fondly of their late boyfriend.
The Scottish presenter said: “Such sad news. Paul O’Grady – funny, fearless, brave, kind and wise. Sorely missed. A very special man.”
Piers Morgan wrote: “RIP Paul O’Grady, 67. A wonderfully warm, mischievous, hilarious guy with a great natural ability to broadcast and make people laugh.”
Added comedian Sandi Toksvig: “Working with Paul O’Grady has been one of the greatest joys of my life. Funny, fearless and full of anger. The best. The world seems a little less bright.”
O’Grady was born in Birkenhead, Liverpool in 1955 to a working-class Irish family.
His father was from Ballincurry in Co Roscommon but later moved to England where he met O’Grady’s mother, the daughter of Irish immigrants from Co Louth.
Although O’Grady has lived all his life in England, he previously revealed he was considering moving to Ireland with his partner.
“I have many families in Ireland – mainly from Roscommon and a couple in Dublin. I’m having such a great time over there,” he told Independent.ie last October.
“We were considering buying my grandfather’s house in Roscommon. It was a lovely carved stone farmhouse, but they used it as a cattle store. It had no roof and everything had crumbled. I also thought when would I go there and what would I do?
“At some point I considered moving to Dublin. I’ve been looking at real estate in Drumcondra… but listen, I can go anywhere. People laugh at me because I go somewhere else and say, “I could live here!” I like a hotel room.”
He began his career as Lily Savage in the 1970s while working as a peripatetic care officer for Camden Council, and then toured northern England as part of the drag duo Playgirls.
He later settled as Savage in a one-man show that ran at London’s Royal Vauxhall Tavern for eight years, and made a name for himself speaking on LGBT issues.
O’Grady’s career as Savage began with television and radio appearances in the role, and he was eventually asked to take over the role of Savage from Paula Yates as host of The Big Breakfast from 1995 to 1996.
During his career he has hosted The Paul O’Grady Show, Blind Date and Blankety Blank as well as ITV’s multi-award winning For The Love Of Dogs.
He also hosted Paul O’Grady’s famous ITV game show Saturday Night Line Up.
O’Grady has won numerous awards throughout his career, including a TV Bafta, a British Comedy Award and a National Television Award for The Paul O’Grady Show.
He was awarded an MBE for services to entertainment in the 2008 Queen’s Birthday Honors.
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