John Mahoney
Template:Short description Template:Other people Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person Charles John Mahoney (June 20, 1940 – February 4, 2018) was an English-American actor. He played retired police officer Martin Crane on the NBC sitcom Frasier from 1993 to 2004, receiving nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards.
After moving from England to the United States, Mahoney began his career in Chicago as a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. He earned the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in the 1986 Broadway revival of John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves, and went on to achieve wider recognition for his roles in the films Suspect and Moonstruck (both 1987). Other credits included Tin Men (1987), Frantic, Eight Men Out (both 1988), Say Anything... (1989), Barton Fink (1991), Striking Distance, In the Line of Fire (both 1993), Reality Bites (1994), The American President (1995), Primal Fear (1996), and The Broken Hearts Club (2000). He also voiced roles in animated films such as Antz (1998), The Iron Giant (1999), and Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001).
Early life and education
Charles John Mahoney was born in Blackpool, England, on June 20, 1940,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the seventh of eight children. His father, Reg, was a baker<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> who played classical piano, and his mother, Margaret (née Watson), was a housewife who loved reading. His paternal grandfather was Irish.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The family had been evacuated to Blackpool from their home city of Manchester when it was heavily bombed during World War II. Mahoney started school at St Joseph's College.
After the war, the family moved back to Manchester, where Mahoney grew up in the suburb of Withington and discovered acting at the Stretford Children's Theatre. His parents' marriage was not happy. They would not speak to each other for long periods of time—and when they did, it often led to heated arguments. The family situation, combined with the war, fueled Mahoney's interest in acting and he vowed to leave Manchester.<ref name="ChicagoTribune">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="TheGuardian">Template:Cite news</ref>
Mahoney moved to the United States aged 18 in 1959 when his older sister Vera (a war bride living in rural Illinois, where he had visited in 1951) agreed to sponsor him. He studied at Quincy University before joining the United States Army. After graduating from Quincy, he lived in Macomb, Illinois, and earned his master's degree in English<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> from Western Illinois University, where he went on to teach English in the late 1960s<ref name=Slate/> before settling in Forest Park, Illinois, and later in Oak Park, Illinois. He became a U.S. citizen in 1971<ref>Northern District, Illinois, Naturalization Index, 1926-1979. Name: Charles John Mahoney Age: 31 Birth Year: 1940 Naturalization Year: 1971 Naturalization Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA</ref> and served as an associate editor of the Quality Review Bulletin medical journal through much of the late 1970s.<ref name=Slate>Matthew Dessem (2018) "Actor John Mahoney Has Died at 77" Template:Webarchive, Slate, February 6, 2018; accessed February 7, 2018.</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Mahoney made a concerted effort to lose his English accent after joining the U.S. Army, not wanting to "stand out" in his new adopted country. He spoke with an American accent for the rest of his life.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Career
1977–1992: Rise to prominence
Dissatisfied with his career, Mahoney took acting classes at St. Nicholas Theatre, which inspired him to resign from his day job and pursue acting full-time. After a stage production in Chicago in 1977, John Malkovich encouraged him to join the Steppenwolf Theatre.<ref name=ChicagoTribuneObit>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=VanityFair>Template:Cite magazine</ref> He did so and went on to win the Clarence Derwent Award as Most Promising Male Newcomer in 1986. Steppenwolf founder Gary Sinise said in an interview for Bomb Magazine that Lyle Kessler's play Orphans in 1985 "kicked John Mahoney, Kevin Anderson and Terry Kinney off into the movie business"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> after their Steppenwolf performance of the play for which he won the Derwent Award and the Theatre World Award.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Mahoney won Broadway's Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play in 1986 for his performance in John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves.<ref name=NYT>Template:Cite news</ref>
Mahoney's first major film roles both came in 1987, in Barry Levinson's Tin Men and in Peter Yates' Suspect, a courtroom drama/mystery starring Cher, Dennis Quaid, and Liam Neeson. In the next decade, he had prominent roles in many acclaimed films including the John Patrick Shanley romantic comedy film Moonstruck (1987) starring Nicolas Cage and Cher. In 1988, Mahoney portrayed Kid Gleason in the sports drama Eight Men Out, and the following year portrayed the protective father in the Cameron Crowe teen coming of age film Say Anything... (1989). He portrayed Secret Service Director Sam Campagna in the Wolfgang Petersen directed drama In the Line of Fire (1993), Grant Gubler in Ben Stiller's romance film Reality Bites (1994), environmental lobbyist Leo Solomon in Rob Reiner's political romance film The American President (1995) and John Shaughnessy in the legal mystery thriller Primal Fear (1996).<ref name=NYT/><ref name=TheGuardian2/><ref name=Slate/> He also is known for his collaboration with the Coen brothers in films such as the period black comedy Barton Fink<ref name=BartonFink>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and the screwball comedy The Hudsucker Proxy.<ref name=Hudsucker>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Mahoney also played a pivotal gay role in Greg Berlanti's 2000 GLAAD Media Award-winning film The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy.Template:Citation needed
1993–2004: Breakthrough in Frasier
Mahoney appeared in Frasier from its debut in 1993 until the final episode in 2004. He received two Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe nominations for the role of Martin Crane, the father of Frasier Crane and Niles Crane. NBC executives held Mahoney in such high esteem that Warren Littlefield declared he was pre-approved when the Frasier creative team suggested casting him as the father.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Before appearing on the series, Mahoney had appeared in the episode "Do Not Forsake Me, O' My Postman" of Cheers – from which Frasier was a spinoff – as Sy Flembeck, an inept jingle writer who has a brief conversation with Frasier. Mahoney also appeared as a priest in Becker, which starred Cheers star Ted Danson.Template:Citation needed
Mahoney's first voice job was in W. B. Yeats's "The Words upon the Window-Pane" for the award-winning National Radio Theater of Chicago.Template:Citation needed He provided the voices for several characters in Antz (1998), Preston Whitmore in Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Atlantis: Milo's Return, General Rogard in The Iron Giant (1999), and Papi in Kronk's New Groove (but was succeeded by Jeff Bennett in The Emperor's New School for an unknown reason).Template:Citation needed In 2007, Mahoney provided the voice of Dr. Robert Terwilliger, Sr. (Sideshow Bob's father) in The Simpsons episode "Funeral for a Fiend". This reunited him with his Frasier co-stars Kelsey Grammer (Sideshow Bob) and David Hyde Pierce (Cecil, Sideshow Bob's brother).Template:Citation needed
2005–2018: Post-Frasier
Mahoney co-starred as the Old Man in the Broadway revival of Prelude to a Kiss at the American Airlines Theater in a limited-run engagement running from previews on February 17, 2007, through to April 29, 2007.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He appeared as an elderly drag queen in the ER season 13 episode "Somebody to Love," and co-starred with Steve Carell (himself a veteran of Chicago theater) as the father of Carell's character in Dan in Real Life. In March 2008, he opened in the world premiere of Better Late at the Northlight Theatre.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was also the narrator for Midwest Airlines commercials. Mahoney also made two appearances on USA Network's Burn Notice in the second (2009) and third (2010) season finales. His character, referred to only as "Management," is a senior intelligence agency official who is the apparent main mover of the conspiracy which blacklisted Michael Westen.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Mahoney joined the cast of In Treatment for the series' second season (2009) as a frenetic CEO who is overwhelmed by his personal and professional responsibilities and experiences chronic physical anxiety attacks. In 2010, he made a guest appearance on $#*! My Dad Says as homophobic retired naval officer Lt. Commander Wally Durham.Template:Citation needed
Beginning in April 2011, Mahoney began rehearsing The Outgoing Tide, a new play by Bruce Graham at Northlight Theatre in Skokie, Illinois (suburban Chicago). The play also stars fellow Chicago actors Rondi Reed and Thom Cox. In 2011, he had two guest appearances on Hot in Cleveland as Roy, a waiter and a love interest for Betty White's character Elka.<ref name=dispatch>Template:Cite news</ref> This reunited him with his Frasier co-star Jane Leeves, as well as Wendie Malick whose character he eventually married in Frasier and his co-star in the movie The American President. Mahoney was a featured ensemble cast member in The Birthday Party, playing in Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre from January 24 to April 28, 2013.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His last role was in Steppenwolf's play The Rembrandt, which ran from September to November 2017.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=SunTimesObit>Template:Cite news</ref>
Despite the numerous successes throughout his career, Mahoney maintained that his early work in the play Orphans has "affected people more than any other play I've ever done. I still get mail from it, I still get people stopping me on the street, and it's 20 years later."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Personal life
Mahoney lived in Oak Park, Illinois,<ref name="TheGuardian"/> and suffered from colon cancer in the mid-1980s.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> After being successfully treated for cancer again in 2014, he credited his love of acting and desire to continue it for giving him enough determination to survive both bouts, saying in October 2017: "I refused to yield to it because I love what I'm doing so much."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Mahoney rarely spoke publicly about his private life,<ref name="ChicagoTribune"/> and died without marrying or having any children.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2002, he said, "I was never very mature in my relationships with women. First sign of conflict, I was gone. Wouldn't discuss it, because I was afraid it would lead to an argument." This stemmed from a fear of having an unhappy marriage like the one his parents had, though Mahoney did previously have "several long-term relationships".<ref name="TheGuardian"/>
He was a Catholic who called Christianity "probably the most important facet of my life". Before each of his performances, Mahoney would pray "Most glorious blessed spirit, I thank you for all the gifts and talents that you've given me. Please help me to use all these gifts and talents to their fullest. And please accept this performance as a prayer of praise and thanks to you". He would also say prayers upon waking up and before going to sleep daily, and would repeatedly pray "Dear God, please help me to treat everybody – including myself – with love, respect, and dignity."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Death
Mahoney died in a Chicago hospice on February 4, 2018,<ref name=VanityFair/> due to complications from throat cancer, originally diagnosed in 2014. He was 77 years old.<ref>
- Template:Cite magazine
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- Template:Cite magazine
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- Template:Cite web</ref> According to his friend Anna D. Shapiro, "He was fragile and he was supposed to be having a routine procedure. But having just beat Stage 3 throat cancer, I think he was just too weak ... By the time he did The Rembrandt he was clean of cancer ... But other health issues came up and he was just too fragile."<ref name=SunTimesObit/>
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Hudson Taylor | Unknown | |
| 1982 | Mission Hill | Michael Doyle | |
| 1985 | Code of Silence | Prowler Representative | |
| 1986 | The Manhattan Project | Lieutenant Colonel Conroy | |
| 1986 | Streets of Gold | Linnehan | |
| 1987 | Tin Men | Moe Adams | <ref name=NYT/> |
| 1987 | Suspect | Judge Matthew Bishop Helms | |
| 1987 | Moonstruck | Perry | |
| 1988 | Frantic | Williams, U.S. Embassy Official | |
| 1988 | Betrayed | "Shorty" | |
| 1988 | Eight Men Out | William "Kid" Gleason | <ref name=NYT/> |
| 1989 | Say Anything... | James Court | <ref name=TheGuardian2/> |
| 1990 | Love Hurts | Boomer | |
| 1990 | The Russia House | Brady | |
| 1991 | Barton Fink | W.P. Mayhew | <ref name=BartonFink/> |
| 1992 | Article 99 | Dr. Henry Dreyfoos | |
| 1993 | In the Line of Fire | Secret Service Director Sam Campagna | <ref name=TheGuardian2>"John Mahoney, who played Frasier's Martin Crane, dies aged 77" Template:Webarchive The Guardian, February 8, 2018. Accessed February 8, 2018.</ref> |
| 1993 | Striking Distance | Captain Vince Hardy | |
| 1994 | The Hudsucker Proxy | Chief | <ref name=Hudsucker/> |
| 1994 | Reality Bites | Grant Gubler | <ref name=TheGuardian2/> |
| 1995 | An Affectionate Look at Fatherhood | Bob | |
| 1995 | The American President | Leo Solomon | <ref name=NYT/> |
| 1996 | Primal Fear | John Shaughnessy | <ref name=TheGuardian2/> |
| 1996 | She's the One | Mr. Fitzpatrick | |
| 1996 | Mariette in Ecstasy | Dr. Claude Baptiste | Unreleased |
| 1998 | Antz | Grebs, The Drunken Scout | Voice<ref name="btva">Template:Cite web A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.</ref> |
| 1999 | The Iron Giant | General Shannon Rogard | Voice<ref name="btva"/> |
| 2000 | The Broken Hearts Club | Jack | |
| 2001 | Almost Salinas | Max Harris | |
| 2001 | Atlantis: The Lost Empire | Preston B. Whitmore | Voice<ref name="btva" /> |
| 2003 | Atlantis: Milo's Return | Preston B. Whitmore | Voice<ref name="btva" /> |
| 2005 | Kronk's New Groove | Papi | Voice, direct-to-video<ref name="btva" /> |
| 2007 | Dan in Real Life | Poppy | <ref name=NYT/> |
| 2010 | Flipped | Chet Duncan |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Chicago Story | Lieutenant Roselli | Main role |
| 1984 | The Killing Floor | Factory Representative | Television film |
| 1985 | Lady Blue | Captain Flynn | Television film |
| 1986 | Trapped in Silence | Dr. Winslow | Television film |
| 1986 | The Christmas Gift | Town Mayor | Television film |
| 1987 | Saturday Night Live | Eddie "Fast Eddie" Felson / Paul Newman | Episode: "Charlton Heston/Wynton Marsalis" |
| 1987 | The House of Blue Leaves | Artie Shaughnessy | Television film |
| 1988 | Favorite Son | Lou Brenner | Episode: "Part One" |
| 1989 | Dinner at Eight | Oliver Jordan | Television film |
| 1990 | The Image | Irving "Irv" Mickelson | Television film |
| 1990 | H.E.L.P. | Chief Patrick Meacham | Main role |
| 1991 | The 10 Million Dollar Getaway | Jimmy Burke | Television film |
| 1992 | The Human Factor | Dr. Alec McMurtry | Main role |
| 1992 | The Water Engine | Mason Gross | Television film |
| 1992 | Screenplay | Walter Partin | Episode: "Buying a Landslide" |
| 1992 | Cheers | Sy Flembeck | Episode: "Do Not Forsake Me, O' My Postman" |
| 1992 | Unnatural Pursuits | Paddy Quinn | Episode: "I Don't Do Cuddles" |
| 1993–2004 | Frasier | Martin Crane | Main role |
| 1995 | Biography | The Narrator | Voice, episode: "Al Capone: Scarface" |
| 1996 | 3rd Rock from the Sun | Dr. Leonard Hanlin | Episode: "Body & Soul & Dick" |
| 1997 | Tracey Takes On... | Geoffrey Ayliss | Episode: "Childhood" |
| 1998 | Nothing Sacred | Vince Reyneaux | Episode: "The Coldest Night of the Year" |
| 2000 | Becker | Father Joe D'Andrea | Episode: "Crosstalk" |
| 2000 | Teacher's Pet | The Narrator / Tim Tim Tim | Voice, episode: "A Dog for All Seasons" |
| 2000 | Nature | The Narrator | Episode: "Intimate Enemies: Lions and Buffalo" |
| 2003 | Gary the Rat | Steele | Voice, episode: "Strange Bedfellows" |
| 2005 | Fathers and Sons | Gene | Television film |
| 2006 | ER | Bennett Cray | Episode: "Somebody to Love" |
| 2007 | Mobsters | The Narrator | Episode: "Al Capone" |
| 2007 | The Simpsons | Dr. Robert Terwilliger Sr. | Voice, episode: "Funeral for a Fiend" |
| 2009 | In Treatment | Walter Barnett | Recurring role (season 2), 7 episodes |
| 2009–2010 | Burn Notice | Management | 2 episodes |
| 2010 | $#*! My Dad Says | Lieutenant Colonel Wally Durham | Episode: "The Manly Thing to Do" |
| 2011–2014 | Hot in Cleveland | Roy | Recurring role (seasons 2–3, 5), 6 episodes |
| 2015 | Foyle's War | Andrew Del Mar | Episode: "High Castle" |
Theatre
| Year | Title | Role | Playwright | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | The House of Blue Leaves | Artie Shaughnessy | John Guare | Vivian Beaumont Theatre, Broadway |
| 2007 | Prelude to a Kiss | Old Man | Craig Lucas | American Airlines Theatre, Broadway |
Awards and nominations
References
External links
- Template:Emmys person
- Template:IMDb name
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- Template:Rotten Tomatoes person
- Template:Usurped
- Centerstage.net: John Mahoney
- Q&A: John Mahoney at Broadway.com
- Pages with broken file links
- 1940 births
- 2018 deaths
- 20th-century American male actors
- 21st-century American male actors
- Male actors from Oak Park, Illinois
- American male film actors
- American male television actors
- American male voice actors
- American people of English descent
- American people of Irish descent
- English male film actors
- English male voice actors
- American Roman Catholics
- Clarence Derwent Award winners
- Deaths from cancer in Illinois
- Deaths from throat cancer in the United States
- English emigrants to the United States
- English people of Irish descent
- Male actors from Manchester
- Male actors from Chicago
- Medical journal editors
- Male actors from Blackpool
- People from Withington
- Quincy University alumni
- Steppenwolf Theatre Company players
- Tony Award winners
- United States Army soldiers
- Western Illinois University faculty