A film on the life of Creeslough-born Bernard Lafferty, the gay butler left a fortune in the controversial will of one of the world’s richest women, could become the surprise hit of next month’s Emmy awards.
“Bernard and Doris” depicts the life of the flamboyant, pony-tailed Lafferty who emigrated at the age of 17, penniless and semi-literate, when his parents died.
He went first to Scotland and then to the U.S where, after working in a string of jobs in hotels and restaurants and in the entertainment business, he landed a dream job as butler to lonely but fabulously-wealthy heiress Doris Duke.
Stars of the low-budget HBO film, Ralph Fiennes and Susan Sarandon, have been nominated for Emmys along with the Irish-born script-writer Hugh Costello.
The film has received a total of 10 nominations.
Sarandon, who plays Doris Duke in the critically-acclaimed film, said: “We will be celebrating more than me at the Emmys.
“We have 10 nominations for this one other than me – best movie, best actor, best director, best writing, and costumes and make-up.
“I am so happy over the fact that so many people seemed to love Bernard and Doris, and I think it’s all about the hearts of these two disparate and unusual human beings. It’s about kindness and acceptance.”
Duke outraged members of her family in 1993 by changing her will on her deathbed to put Lafferty in charge of her $1.2 billion Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
It sparked a vicious legal battle as the Duke family tried to wrest power from him.
But the movie shows him in a more positive light, attempting to show the genuine love the ‘odd couple’ had for each other.
Duke died in 1993. Lafferty, an alcoholic, was found dead in bed at the age of 51 in his Los Angeles mansion a few years later.

Reporter: Paddy Clancy