(The Guardian) – British actor famously played the father of Kelsey Grammer’s Frasier and David Hyde Pierce’s Niles on the hit 1990s show after finding success late in life. John Mahoney, the actor best known for playing cranky father Martin (Marty) Crane on the US sitcom Frasier, has died at the age of 77. Mahoney’s manager, Paul Martino, said Mahoney died on Sunday in Chicago after a brief hospitalisation. The cause of death was not immediately announced.
Mahoney played the father of Kelsey Grammer’s Frasier and David Hyde Pierce’s Niles. The series, a spinoff of Cheers, ran for 11 seasons on NBC from 1993 to 2004. Mahoney’s portrayal of Marty earned him two Emmy nominations, two Golden Globe nominations and a Screen Actors Guild award, while the show won five best comedy series Emmy in a row.
The actor was born in Blackpool, but made Chicago his adopted hometown. Beginning his acting career in theatre in the 1970s, he joined Steppenwolf Theatre on the suggestion of actor John Malkovich, and worked with them for 39 years, eventually winning a Tony Award for his performance in John Guare’s The House of Blue Leaves in 1986. Mahoney originally moved to America to be near his sister who had married an American GI and relocated. He joined the army himself shortly after arriving in the country, but struggled to adjust. “I joined the army almost immediately because I wanted to get citizenship faster, but I was so homesick,” he told the Times in 2005. “It’s the worst feeling I’ve ever been through in my life. I felt like killing myself.”
You can read the full article in theguardian.com.
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