''This article concerns the actor John Mahoney. For the United States federal judge, see John Christopher Mahoney.'''John Mahoney''' (born June 20, 1940) is an English-born American actor best known for playing Martin "Marty" Crane in the popular TV show ''Frasier'', as Kelsey Grammer's character Dr. Frasier Crane's retired policeman father.
He was born in Blackpool, England of Irish-Scottish Catholic extraction, but grew up in Withington, Manchester, and was educated at St. Joseph's College, Blackpool. (Many Mancunians were born outside the city during World War II as pregnant mothers were evacuated to towns like Blackpool.)
He sold peanuts at Manchester United football matches (although it is reported that he supports Manchester City) and first discovered acting in the Stretford Youth Theatre. He 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.
Mahoney later lost all traces of his original accent, but he did resurrect it once on ''Frasier'', while mocking Daphne Moon (played by English actress Jane Leeves).
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 for a medical journal publisher through much of the 1970's.
Disillusioned with his career, Mahoney later said he realized that as he was approaching middle age, he was coming to terms with his future, which made him very depressed. 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, and was very successful.
He made his film debut in 1980, and has played supporting roles in such films as ''Suspect'' and ''Moonstruck'' (both 1987), ''Frantic'' and ''Betrayed'' (both 1988), ''Say Anything...'' (1989)'', Barton Fink'' (1991), ''In the Line of Fire'' (1993), ''Striking Distance'' (1993),''The Hudsucker Proxy'' (1994), ''The American President'' (1995), and ''Primal Fear'' (1996).
He also provided the voices for several characters in the animated film ''Antz'' (1998), as well as Whitmore in ''Atlantis: The Lost Empire''. Although he has often played "good guy" roles, Mahoney has occasionally gone into "bad guy" territory, evident by his work in ''Reality Bites'' as a diva talk show host who torments Winona Ryder's character.
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.
Coincidentally, 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.
He has since returned to his home in Chicago to work with the Steppenwolf Theatre again. Mahoney cites theater as his first passion.
External links
* John Mahoney at the IMDB.* Steppenwolf Theatre Yahoo Group
For more information about John Mahoney, please visit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mahoney
Biography courtesy of the brilliant Wikipedia!
