John Mahoney

Infobox actor

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imagesize = 200px
caption = John Mahoney, September 2007
birthdate = birth date and age|1940|6|20
birthplace = Blackpool, Lancashire, England, UK
sagawards = Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
1999 "Frasier"
tonyawards = Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play
1986 "The House of Blue Leaves"

John Mahoney (born June 20, 1940) is an award-winning English American actor, best known for playing Martin "Marty" Crane, the retired police officer father of Kelsey Grammer's Dr. Frasier Crane, in the popular American TV series "Frasier" (NBC, 1993-2004).

Biography

Early life

Mahoney, the seventh of eight children, was born in Blackpool, England - the town to where his mother was evacuated as the Mahoneys' home city of Manchester was bombed during the Second World War and the town where he started school at St Joseph's College, Blackpool. After the war, the Mahoneys moved back to Manchester. Mahoney grew up in the Withington area of the city and discovered acting at the Stretford Youth Theatre. His father, Reg, was a baker. [ [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~fwu/frasier/mahoney.html John Mahoney (Martin Crane) ] ] Mahoney moved to the United States as a young man when his older sister, Vera, a war-bride living in rural Illinois, agreed to sponsor him. He studied at Quincy University, Illinois, before joining the United States Army to speed up the citizenship process and to become a U.S. citizen; he received citizenship in 1959. [ [http://www.filmreference.com/film/91/John-Mahoney.html John Mahoney Biography (1940-) ] ] He lived in Macomb, Illinois and taught English at Western Illinois University in the early 1970s, before finally settling in Oak Park, Illinois. He served as editor of a medical journal through much of the decade.

Career

Early career

Ready for a change, Mahoney took acting classes at St. Nicholas Theater that inspired him to quit his day job and pursue acting full time, and after a stage production in 1977, fellow actor John Malkovich encouraged him to join Steppenwolf Theatre. He did so, and went on to win the Clarence Derwent Award as Most Promising Male Newcomer, and, in 1986, Broadway's Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in John Guare's "The House of Blue Leaves".

He made his film debut in 1980, and has played supporting roles in such films as "Suspect" and "Moonstruck" (both 1987 and both starring Cher), "Eight Men Out," "Frantic" and "Betrayed" (all three 1988), "Say Anything..." (1989)", Barton Fink" (1991), "The Water Engine" (1992), "In the Line of Fire" (1993), "Striking Distance" (1993), "The Hudsucker Proxy" (1994), "The American President" (1995), "Primal Fear" (1996), "Antz" (1998) and "The Broken Hearts Club" (2000). Although he has often played "good guy" roles, Mahoney has occasionally gone into "bad guy" territory, for example in "Reality Bites", in which he played a diva talk show host who torments Winona Ryder's character.

"Frasier"

He appeared in "Frasier" from its inception in 1993 until the final episode in 2004, and received numerous Emmy and Golden Globe award nominations for this role. Incidentally, Mahoney also appeared in an episode of "Cheers" as an inept jingle writer, including a brief conversation with Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer), whose father he would later play.

Voice work

He also provided the voices for several characters in the animated film "Antz" (1998), as well as Whitmore in "", General Rogard in "The Iron Giant" (1999), and Kronk's Papi in "Kronk's New Groove" (succeeded by Jeff Bennett in "The Emperor's New School"). In 2007, he provided the voice of Sideshow Bob's father, Dr. Robert Terwilliger Sr. in "Funeral for a Fiend", an episode of "The Simpsons". This reunited him with his "Frasier" co-stars Kelsey Grammer and David Hyde Pierce, who voiced the characters of Sideshow Bob and Cecil, respectively.

Current career

Mahoney co-starred as The Old Man in the Broadway revival of the play "Prelude to a Kiss" at the American Airlines Theater in a limited-run engagement from previews February 17, 2007 through April 29, 2007. [ [http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=455728 Internet Broadway Database: "Prelude to a Kiss"] ] [ [http://www.broadway.com/gen/Buzz_Story.aspx?ci=542370 Broadway.com "Mahoney, Parisse, Tudyk to Headline Roundabout's "Prelude to a Kiss"] ] He appeared in season 13 of "ER" as an elderly drag queen in the episode, "Somebody to Love", and in the 2007 romantic comedy film "Dan in Real Life", co-starring as the father of Steve Carell and Dane Cook. In March of 2008 he opened in the world premiere of [http://www.northlight.org/onstage/better.html Better Late] at the Northlight Theatre. He is also the narrator for Midwest Airlines commercials.

Personal life

Mahoney lost all traces of his original Mancunian accent while serving in the U.S. Army, but he did resurrect it once on "Frasier", while mocking Daphne Moon (played by English actress Jane Leeves) in the episode "Look Before You Leap". In 2003, he returned to his home in Oak Park, Illinois, to work with the Chicago Steppenwolf Theatre again.

Mahoney is the uncle of Illinois State Senator John Sullivan.

References

External links

*ibdb|74334
*imdb|0001498
*voice actor|1521
* [http://www.thetvzone.net/frasier/johnbios.htm NBC biography: John Mahoney]
* [http://www.centerstage.net/theatre/whoswho/JohnMahoney.html Centerstage.net: John Mahoney]
* [http://www.broadway.com/gen/Buzz_Story.aspx?ci=544691 Q&A: John Mahoney] at Broadway.com

Persondata
NAME= Mahoney, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Actor
DATE OF BIRTH= 20 June 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH= Blackpool, United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=