John Mahoney Biography

John Mahoney (20 June 1940) is an English-born American actor. He started his career on the stage in 1977, moving into film in 1980. He played Martin Crane in the American sitcom Frasier on NBC from its inception in 1993 until the final episode in 2004. He has also worked as a voice actor, and performed on Broadway and in Chicago theatre.

Early life

Mahoney, the seventh of eight children, was born in the seaside resort of Blackpool, Lancashire, England " the town to which his mother was evacuated as the Mahoneys' home city of Manchester was heavily bombed during the Second World War. 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 Children's Theatre. His Irish father, Reg, was a baker.

Mahoney moved to the US 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 U.S. citizenship process; he received citizenship in 1959. He lived in Macomb, Illinois, and taught English at Western Illinois University in the early 1970s, before settling in Forest Park, Illinois and later in Oak Park, Illinois. He served as editor of a medical journal through much of the decade.

Career

Early work

Dissatisfied with his career, Mahoney took acting classes at St. Nicholas Theatre, which inspired him to quit his day job and pursue acting full-time, and after a stage production in 1977, 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. Gary Sinise, co-founder of Steppenwolf, said in an interview for Bomb Magazine that Lyle Kessler's play Orphans "kicked John Mahoney, Kevin Anderson and Terry Kinney off into the movie business" after their Steppenwolf performance in it where he won the Derwent Award and the Theatre World Award. He won Broadway's Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves.

Frasier

He appeared in Frasier from its inception in 1993 until the final episode in 2004; Mahoney received numerous Emmy and Golden Globe award nominations for this role. He played the role of Martin "Marty" Crane, the father of Frasier Crane and Niles Crane. NBC executives so highly esteemed Mahoney that Warren Littlefield declared he was pre-approved when the Frasier creative team suggested casting him as the father.

Prior to appearing on Frasier, Mahoney appeared in episode 5 season 11 of Cheers as an inept jingle writer named Sy Flembeck. His appearance included a brief conversation with Frasier Crane. Mahoney also appeared as a priest in Becker which starred Cheers regular Ted Danson.

Voice acting

Mahoney's first voice job was in W. B. Yeats' "The Words upon the Window-Pane" for the award-winning National Radio Theater of Chicago. He provided the voices for several characters in the animated film Antz (1998), Preston Whitmore in Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Atlantis: Milo's Return, 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 (Fraiser) and David Hyde Pierce (Niles) voicing his character's sons: Sideshow Bob and Cecil, respectively.

Post-Frasier

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. 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, himself a veteran of Chicago theatre. In March 2008 he opened in the world premiere of Better Late at the Northlight Theatre. He is also the narrator for Midwest Airlines commercials. In 2009, Mahoney made a brief appearance on USA's Burn Notice in the second season finale. His character, referred to only as "Management", is a senior covert intelligence agency official and apparently the main mover of the conspiracy which blacklisted Michael Westen. He also appeared in the third season finale]], broadcast on 2010.

Mahoney joined the cast of the HBO drama, In Treatment, for the show's (2009) second season, portraying a frenetic CEO, overwhelmed by his personal and professional responsibilities, who experiences chronic physical anxiety attacks and arrives for therapy demanding a "quick fix", because his time is of the essence.

In 2010, he made a guest appearance on $#@! My Dad Says as an anti-homosexual retired naval officer Lt. Commander Wally Durham.

Despite the numerous successes throughout his career, Mahoney has maintained that his early work in Lyle Kessler's 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 twenty years later".

Beginning in April 2011, Mahoney began rehearsing The Outgoing Tide, a new play by Bruce Graham at Northlight Theatre in Skokie, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago). The play also stars fellow Chicago actors Rondi Reed and Thom Cox.

In 2011, he had two guest appearances on the TV Land sitcom Hot In Cleveland, playing a waiter and a love interest for Betty White's character, Elka. This reunited him with his Frasier co-stars Jane Leeves and 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.

Personal life

Along with on-screen son, David Hyde Pierce, Mahoney is godfather to Frasier co-star Jane Leeves's son, Finn.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role
1985	Code of Silence	Prowler Representative
1986	The Manhattan Project	Lt. Col. Conroy
1987	Suspect	Judge Matthew Bishop Helms
	Tin Men	Moe Adams
	Moonstruck	Perry
1988	Frantic	U.S. Embassy Official
	Betrayed	Shorty
	Eight Men Out	William 'Kid' Gleason
1989	Say Anything...	James Court
1990	Love Hurts	Boomer
	The Russia House	Brady
1991	Barton Fink	W.P. Mayhew
1992	Article 99	Dr. Henry Dreyfoos
1993	In the Line of Fire	Sam Campagna
	Striking Distance	Lt. Vince Hardy
1994	A Hard Rain	Ross Stewart
	Reality Bites	Grant Gubler
	The Hudsucker Proxy	Chief
1995	The American President	Leo Solomon
1996	Mariette in Ecstasy	Dr. Claude Baptiste
	Primal Fear	Shaughnessy
1998	She's the One	Mr. Fitzpatrick
	Antz	Grebs (voice)
1999	The Iron Giant	General Rogard (voice)
2000	The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy	Jack
2001	Almost Salinas	Max Harris
	Atlantis: The Lost Empire	Preston B. Whitmore (voice)
2003	Atlantis: Milo's Return	Preston B. Whitmore (voice)
2005	Kronk's New Groove	Papi (voice)
2007	Dan in Real Life	Poppy
2010	Flipped	Chet Duncan

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes/Awards
1982	Chicago Story	Lt. Roselli
1985	Lady Blue	Capt. Flynn
1986	Trapped in Silence	Doctor Winslow
1987	Saturday Night Live	Fast Eddie Felson Paul Newman
	American Playhouse	Artie Shaughnessy
1988	Favorite Son	Lou Brenner
1990	The Image	Irv Mickelson
	H.E.L.P.	Chief Patrick Meacham
1991	The American Experience
	The 10 Million Dollar Getaway	Jimmy Burke
1992	The Human Factor	Dr. Alec McMurtry
	The Secret Passion of Robert Clayton	Robert Clayton Sr.
	The Water Engine	Mason Gross
	Screenplay	Walter Partin
	Cheers	Sy Flembeck
	Unnatural Pursuits	Paddy Quinn
1993-2004	Frasier	Martin Crane	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1999) Nominated - Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (1999, 2003) Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV (1994, 2001) Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1994-2003) Nominated - Golden Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical Nominated - Q Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Quality Comedy Series (1998, 2000) Nominated - TV Guide Award for Supporting Actor of the Year in a Comedy Series
1995	Biography	Narrator
1996	3rd Rock from the Sun	Dr. Leonard Hamlin
1997	Tracey Takes On...	Jeffrey Ayliss
1998	Nothing Sacred	Vince Reyneaux
2000	Becker	Father Joe D'Andrea
2003	Gary the Rat	Steele
2005	Fathers and Sons	Gene
2006	ER	Bennett Cray
2007	Mobsters	Narrator
	The Simpsons	Dr. Robert Terwilliger, Sr.
2009	In Treatment	Walter	Nominated - Prism Award for Performance in a Drama Series Multi-Episode Storyline
2009-2010	Burn Notice	Management
2010	$#*! My Dad Says	Lt. Col. Wally Durham
2011	Hot in Cleveland	Roy