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“Brendan was so generous” Filmmaker opens up about Brendan Grace’s final days

The filmmaker behind Brendan Grace’s ‘Funnyman’ and ‘Thanks For The Memories’ has opened up about Brendan’s final few months, praising him for being ‘generous’ right until the end.

Speaking with The Irish Sun Brian Reddin explained how filming for Brendan’s TV farewell ‘Thanks For The Memories’ was difficult, but he never knew just how sick Brendan was. Speaking about Brendan’s brush with pneumonia while filming for his final mini-series, Brian says that Brendan always put his best foot forward, despite how unwell he felt.

“Brendan went back to Florida and then rang me to say he had been diagnosed with pneumonia. He said it might delay filming for a few months but not to worry,” Brian recalled.

“A few weeks later he was back in touch to say he’d been invited to meet the President and attend a garden party at Aras an Uachtaráin and he wasn’t going to let anyone down.”

“Brendan rang me on the day we were going to the Aras to warn me that he had lost a bit of weight but aside from looking a bit drawn in the face, he was in great form on the day.”

Pictures: G. McDonnell / VIPIRELAND.COM

Within that time, Brian says Brendan found out that he was battling more than just pneumonia, as he was diagnosed with lung cancer. However, so as not to cause upset, he assured the team that his illness was not serious.

“I hoped he’d recover but the next call I got was Brendan ringing to say, we’d have to postpone filming as he had been diagnosed with cancer.”

“He was playing it down telling us ‘don’t worry, it’s a very treatable cancer, it’s curable, no problem’. I had no idea at the time, it was so serious.”

Brendan Grace and wife Eileen

Forever the professional showman, Brian recalls how even in his final days Brendan thought of the show, crew, and fans. Telling them all that ‘We will get this show done’, Brendan asked Brian to come to his bedside in the summer of 2019, as a way to ensure that the series had an ending.

“The last thing you’d want when you’re sick like that is cameras filming you in bed. But Brendan wanted to make sure that we had an end to our series.”

“He wanted to put his stamp on it and say a last goodbye to fans. I often think now, I didn’t say properly say goodbye to him with a hug, I just said ‘see you later Brendan.”

“We couldn’t know then that we would lose our leading man mid-series. But Brendan was so generous, letting us film him right up to the end.”

Brendan passed away on July 11, 2019, aged 68, just 10 days after his diagnosis.

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