Academy Award nominated actor Liam Neeson said goodbye to his mother Katherine “Kitty” Neeson on Saturday, June 6 after she passed away according to PEOPLE. The death of Neeson’s 94-year-old mother arrived just one day before his birthday on Sunday, June 7. Funeral arrangements for Kitty were not announced but due to restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic her service will be forced to have a small attendance limited to ten persons. She’ll be buried in Ballymena Cemetery on Tuesday near her late husband and Liam’s father, Bernard “Barney” Neeson, who passed in 1988.
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“Very sorry to hear this news,” Mayor of Mid & East Antrim Borough Council, Councillor Peter Johnston said in response to the news (Via Ballymena Daily). “As Mayor of Mid and East Antrim, I will be raising this at full council on Tuesday where we will be holding a minute’s silence. Rest in Peace, Kitty.”
Neeson previously opened up about his mother’s devout Catholic faith in an interview with Men’s Journal after admitting that his own had waned over the years. “I admire people with true faith,” he said. “Like my mother, who’s 90 and gets annoyed if she can’t walk to Mass Sunday morning. ‘Mom, you’re 90! It’s OK! God will forgive you.’ ”
In addition to Liam, Kitty was the mother to three daughters, Elizabeth, Bernadette, and Rosaleen. She’s also survived by grandchildren (including Neeson’s sons Micheál and Daniel), and great-grandchildren.
Neeson was last heard on the big screen reprising his role of Qui-Gon Jinn in a vocal cameo for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, lending his voice to a sequence with other famous Jedi from the franchise’s past. He can next be seen in the feature films Made in Italy, a comedy that marks the directorial debut of James D’Arcy, and Honest Thief, an action-thriller co-starring Kate Walsh, Jai Courtney, Jeffrey Wright, Robert Patrick, and Lizzy Caplan.
Both films had previously been set to debut later this year, Made in Italy on August 7 and Honest Thief on September 4, but it’s unclear if they’ll be released on those dates due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In addition to his work in the Star Wars franchise, Neeson is known for starring in the action-franchise Taken as well as many similarly themed films like Non-Stop, The Commuter, and Cold Pursuit. He also appeared in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy as DC Comics villain Ra’s al-Ghul.
(Cover photo by ShowBizIreland/Lars Niki/Getty Images)
