Patrick Bedford, the Irish actor who shared an unusual dual Best Actor Tony Award nomination with Donal Donnelly for Philadelphia, Here I Come!, died Nov. 20 in Manhattan, The New York Times reported. The 1966 nomination, for a role in what has become one of playwright Brian Friel's greatest hits, was part of a 30 year career for Mr. Bedford. He worked in Dublin, acting and directing at the Gate Theatre, and performed on Broadway and in films. He was 67. The cause of death was cancer. He lived in New York.
In Philadelphia, playwright Friel splits the personality of young Gareth O'Donnell, an Irishman preparing to move to America. Mr. Bedford represented the "public" side of Gar, and Donnelly played the private thoughts of the character. The men won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Actor that year.
Mr. Bedford also appeared in Friel's short-lived The Mundy Scheme in New York in 1969. The play concerned the fanciful notion of turning Ireland into a burial ground for the world's dead. He was also John Adams in the national tour of the musical, 1776.
Mr. Bedford played opposite Sandy Dennis in film, "Up the Down Staircase," about challenges at an urban high school. He also appeared in Orson Welles' "Chimes at Midnight," a merging of elements from several Shakespeare plays, including Henry IV and The Merry Wives of Windsor.
-- By Kenneth Jones