Early life

Mahoney, the seventh of eight children, was born in Blackpool, Lancashire, England. The family was evacuated to Blackpool from the Mahoneys' home city of Manchester, when it 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 who played classical piano, and his mother, Margaret, was a housewife who loved reading. His parents' marriage was not happy and they either would not speak to each other or have heated arguments. The family situation accompanied with the war fueled Mahoney's intrigue for acting and he vowed to leave Manchester. 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 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.

Mahoney's first major film role was in the 1987 Barry Levinson film Tin Men. He went on to have prominent roles in a number of acclaimed films throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, including Eight Men Out, Say Anything..., In the Line of Fire, Reality Bites, and The American President. He has appeared in two Coen brothers films: Barton Fink and The Hudsucker Proxy.

Frasier

Main article: Martin Crane

Mahoney appeared in Frasier from its inception in 1993 until the final episode in 2004; Mahoney received two Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe 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 the series, Mahoney appeared in episode 5 season 11 of Cheers as inept jingle writer Sy Flembeck and has 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 (but is succeeded by Jeff Bennett in The Emperor's New School). In 2007, he 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).

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 as an elderly drag queen in the ER season 13 episode "Somebody to Love", and co-starring as Steve Carell's father (himself a veteran of Chicago theatre) in the 2007 romantic comedy film Dan in Real Life. 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. Mahoney also made two appearances on USA'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 that is the apparent main mover of the conspiracy which blacklisted Michael Westen.

Mahoney joined the cast of the HBO drama In Treatment for the show's 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. 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 as Roy, a waiter and a love interest for Betty White's character, Elka. 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.

Personal life

Along with David Hyde Pierce, Mahoney is godfather to Frasier co-star Jane Leeves's son Finn. Mahoney has scarcely talked about his private life, but in a 2002 article he revealed he has been in several relationships, although he has never married. Mahoney lives in Oak Park, Illinois.

Filmography

Film

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

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Chicago Story	Lt. Roselli
1985	Lady Blue	Capt. Flynn	Movie
1986	Trapped in Silence	Doctor Winslow	Movie
1987	Saturday Night Live	Fast Eddie Felson Paul Newman	Episode: "Charlton Heston/Wynton Marsalis"
1987	American Playhouse	Artie Shaughnessy	Episode: "The House of Blue Leaves"
1988	Favorite Son	Lou Brenner	Episode: "Part One"
1990	The Image	Irv Mickelson	Movie
1990	H.E.L.P.	Chief Patrick Meacham	6 episodes
1992	The Human Factor	Dr. Alec McMurtry	5 episodes
1992	The Water Engine	Mason Gross	Movie
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	264 episodes Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series Nominated-Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries, or Television Film Nominated-Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Nominated-Quality Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Quality Comedy Series Nominated-Satellite Award for Best Actor - Television Series Musical or Comedy Nominated-Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series Nominated-TV Guide Award for Supporting Actor of the Year in a Comedy Series
1995	Biography	Narrator	Episode: "Al Capone: Scarface"
1996	3rd Rock from the Sun	Dr. Leonard Hamlin	Episode: "Body & Soul & Dick"
1997	Tracey Takes On...	Jeffrey 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	Narrator / Tim Tim Tim (voice)	Episode: #1.12
2003	Gary the Rat	Steele (voice)	Episode: "Strange Bedfellows"
2005	Fathers and Sons	Gene	Movie
2006	ER	Bennett Cray	Episode "Somebody to Love"
2007	Mobsters	Narrator	Episode: "Al Capone"
2007	The Simpsons	Dr. Robert Terwilliger, Sr. (voice)	Episode: "Funeral for a Fiend"
2009	In Treatment	Walter Barnett	7 episodes Nominated-PRISM Award for Performance in a Drama Series Multi-Episode Storyline
2009, 2010	Burn Notice	Management	2 episodes
2010	$#*! My Dad Says	Lt. Col. Wally Durham	Episode: "The Manly Thing to Do"
2011, 2014	Hot in Cleveland	Roy	6 episodes
2015	Foyle's War	Andrew Del Mar	Episode: "High Castle"

Direct-to-video

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Atlantis: Milo's Return	Preston B. Whitmore	Voice
2005	Kronk's New Groove	Papi	Voice

Charities

John Mahoney supports the following charitable causes: Cancer, Breast Cancer, Women's Issues.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]