'Fraggle Rock' actor Gerard Parkes dies at age 90

[October 22, 2014]  (Reuters) - Gerard Parkes, the Irish-Canadian actor best known for his roles on the Muppets' "Fraggle Rock" and crime film "The Boondock Saints," has died, his agent said on Tuesday.

The actor died at a retirement home in Toronto on Sunday from natural causes and had been ill for the past several years, agent Gerry Jordan said. He died two days after his 90th birthday.

Parkes, who was born in Dublin and immigrated to Canada in 1956, began his career in theater before moving on to television and film in both Britain and North America.

The actor, who had half-century career on Canadian television, was best known to U.S. audiences as the inventor Doc on Jim Henson's 1980s "Fraggle Rock" TV program, about a subterranean society of Muppet characters.

He was the only regular human character on the show.

In 1999's "The Boondock Saints," Parkes played a pub owner with Tourette syndrome. He reprised the role in the 2009 sequel.

In Canada, Parkes had regular roles on TV drama "The Beachcombers" as well as children's series and "The Littlest Hobo."

In 1968, he won a best actor Canadian Film Award for the thriller "Isabel."

Parkes is survived by his longtime partner, Sheelagh Norman.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey in Los Angeles; Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Chris Reese)

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