Sometimes actors come from families that have been performing for generations, while other times, these individuals entering the acting profession is much different than what their parents did for work. In the case of Fifty Shades star Jamie Dornan, his father, Dr. Jim Dornan, made a living in the medical field, although he had also once considered taking up acting. Sadly, word’s come in that Jim Dornan has passed away at the age of 73 due to COVID-19 complications.
Jim Dornan’s passing on March 15 was announced on the NIPANC (Northern Ireland Pancreatic Cancer Charity) Instagram page, as Dornan served as organization’s president. In addition to expressing condolences to Dornan’s children (Jamie, Jessica and Liesa), as well as his wife Samina, the NIPANC social media post (which revealed that Jim died while in the United Arab Emirates) also stated the following:
He was internationally renowned as a world-class obstetrician and gynaecologist. His relationship with NIPANC was founded on his own family’s experience of this terrible cancer, with the tragic death of his first wife, Lorna, more than twenty years ago.
In addition to his work as an obstetrician and gynecologist, Jim Dornan was also a professor who delivered lectures both within Ireland and internationally. His other accomplishments included being the Chair in Fetal Medicine at Queens University Belfast, being elected Senior Vice President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in London and writing the book An Everyday Miracle, which was published in 2013.
As mentioned in the NIPANC post, Jim’s first wife, Lorna, passed away in 1998, when Jamie Dornan was 16. Back in 2019, Jamie talked about how he was still dealing with losing his mother at that age, as well as four close friends dying in a car crash when he was 17. In addition to playing Christian Grey in the Fifty Shades movies, Jamie Dornan’s other notable credits include Robin Hood, A Private War, Trolls World Tour, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar and My Dinner with Hervé. He’s next slated to appear in the Kenneth Branagh-directed drama Belfast.
Although Jim Dornan dedicated his professional life to practicing medicine, he did get several opportunities to act in his later years. He appeared in the third series of the ITV series Marcella, and he also portrayed a policeman in an episode of BBC Two series The Fall, which starred Jamie Dornan as a serial killer named Peter Paul Spector. So even though he didn’t fully join the acting world like his son did, it’s nice to hear that Jim was able to get some professional performing experience under his belt. Their resumes ended up being vastly different, but in that particular regard, like son, like father.
Jamie Dornan hadn't spoken out about his father's passing at the time of this writing, but in a recent interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live! the late night host did ask Dornan about how his father, a former obstetrician and occasional actor, was doing. Dornan mentioned his father was doing a "professorship" in the Middle East though he was retired, and that he had "under the radar" taken another acting gig on TV after landing the small role on his show The Fall. He spoke amusingly and warmly about his father during the episode, and you can view the full interview here.
We here at CinemaBlend offer our deepest sympathies to Jim Dornan’s family and friends in their time of mourning.
