John Mahoney
Encyclopedia
John Mahoney is a British born American actor, known for playing Martin "Marty" Crane
, the retired police officer
, father of Kelsey Grammer
's Dr. Frasier Crane
, in the American TV series Frasier
(NBC
, 1993–2004).
, 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 Youth Theatre. His father, Reg, was a baker. 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. 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.
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 . In 1986, 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
.
He made his film debut in 1980, and has played supporting roles in such films as The Manhattan Project as Lt Col Conroy, (1986), 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), She's the One (1996), and The Broken Hearts Club
(2000). Although he has often played "straight-arrow good guy" roles, Mahoney has occasionally gone into villain
territory, for example in Reality Bites
, in which he played a diva talk show
host who torments Winona Ryder
's character. He also appeared as infamous New York gangster Jimmy Burke in The Ten Million Dollar Getaway in 1991 and as hateful and insufferable college professor Dr. Leonard Hamlin on an episode of the NBC sit-com 3rd Rock From the Sun
.
from its inception in 1993 until the final episode in 2004, and received numerous Emmy and Golden Globe award nominations for this role. 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.
Mahoney also appeared in an episode of Cheers
as an inept jingle writer named Sy Flembeck in the eleventh season, episode 5, including a brief conversation with Frasier Crane
(Kelsey Grammer
), whose father he would later play.
' "The Words upon the Window-Pane" for the award-winning National Radio Theater
of Chicago. He also provided the voices for several characters in the animated
film Antz
(1998), as well as 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
and David Hyde Pierce
, who voiced his character's sons: Sideshow Bob
and Cecil, respectively.
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. On March 5, 2009 Mahoney made a brief appearance on USA
's Burn Notice
at the end of its second season
. His character, referred to only as "Management", is a senior covert intelligence agency official and apparently the main mover of the conspiracy which blacklist
ed Michael Westen
. He also appeared in the third season finale
, broadcast on March 4, 2010—in a cliffhanger that suggests his role will continue into the fourth season.
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. Cdr. Wally Durham.
Despite all 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 of 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 a guest appearance on the TV Land
sitcom Hot In Cleveland
playing a waiter. This reunited him with his Frasier
co-stars Jane Leeves
and Wendie Malick
, who was also his co-star in the movie The American President.
, John is godfather to Frasier
co-star Jane Leeves
's son, Finn.
Martin Crane
Det. Martin "Marty" Crane is a fictional character on the American television show Frasier. He was played by actor John Mahoney. Martin is the father of Frasier and Niles Crane.- Biography :...
, the retired police officer
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
, father of Kelsey Grammer
Kelsey Grammer
Allen Kelsey Grammer is an American actor and comedian. He is most widely known for his two-decade portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the sitcoms Cheers and Frasier...
's Dr. Frasier Crane
Frasier Crane
Frasier W. Crane, M.D., Ph.D., A.P.A. is a fictional character on the American television sitcoms Frasier and Cheers. He was played by Kelsey Grammer for 20 years, tying the record for the longest-running character on prime-time American television, which was set by James Arness, who played Marshal...
, in the American TV series Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
(NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, 1993–2004).
Early life
Mahoney, the seventh of eight children, was born in the seaside resort of BlackpoolBlackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
– the town to which his mother was evacuated as the Mahoneys' home city of Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
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
Withington
Withington is a suburban area of the City of Manchester, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies south of Manchester city centre, about south of Fallowfield, north-east of Didsbury, and east of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, near the centre-to-south edges of the Greater Manchester Urban Area; in the...
area of the city and discovered acting at the Stretford
Stretford
Stretford is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England. Lying on flat ground between the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal, it is to the southwest of Manchester city centre, south-southwest of Salford and northeast of Altrincham...
Children's Youth Theatre. His father, Reg, was a baker. Mahoney moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as a young man when his older sister, Vera, a war-bride
War-bride
War bride is a term used in reference to wartime marriages, especially - but not exclusively - during World War I and World War II.One of the largest and best documented war bride phenomenons is American soldiers marrying German "Fräuleins" after World War II. By 1949, over 20,000 German war brides...
living in rural Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, agreed to sponsor him. He studied at Quincy University
Quincy University
Quincy University a private liberal arts Catholic university in the Franciscan tradition. It is located in Quincy, Illinois and currently enrolls around 1,300 students.-History:...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, before joining the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
to speed up the citizenship
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
process and to become a U.S. citizen; he received citizenship in 1959. He lived in Macomb, Illinois
Macomb, Illinois
Macomb is a city in and the county seat of McDonough County, Illinois, United States. It is situated in western Illinois southwest of Galesburg. The population was 18,588 at the 2000 census. Macomb is the home of Western Illinois University.- Geography :...
, and taught English
English studies
English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...
at Western Illinois University
Western Illinois University
Western Illinois University is a public university founded in 1899 as Western Illinois State Normal School. Like many similar institutions of the time, Western Illinois State Normal School focused on teacher training for its relatively small body of students. As the normal school grew, it became...
in the early 1970s, before settling in Forest Park, Illinois
Forest Park, Illinois
Forest Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago in the United States. The population was 15,688 at the 2000 census...
and later in Oak Park, Illinois
Oak Park, Illinois
Oak Park, Illinois is a suburb bordering the west side of the city of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is the twenty-fifth largest municipality in Illinois. Oak Park has easy access to downtown Chicago due to public transportation such as the Chicago 'L' Blue and Green lines,...
. He served as editor of a medical journal
Medical journal
A public health journal is a scientific journal devoted to the field of public health, including epidemiology, biostatistics, and health care . Public health journals, like most scientific journals, are peer-reviewed...
through much of the decade.
Early work
Disillusioned with his career, Mahoney took acting classes at St. Nicholas Theatre that inspired him to quit his day job and pursue acting full time, and after a stage production in 1977, John MalkovichJohn Malkovich
John Gavin Malkovich is an American actor, producer, director and fashion designer with his label Technobohemian. Over the last 25 years of his career, Malkovich has appeared in more than 70 motion pictures. For his roles in Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, he received Academy Award...
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
Gary Sinise
Gary Alan Sinise is an American actor, film director and musician. During his career, Sinise has won various awards including an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1992, Sinise directed, and played the role of George Milton in the successful film adaptation of...
, co-founder of Steppenwolf, said in an interview for Bomb Magazine that Lyle Kessler's play Orphans
Orphans (Lyle Kessler play)
Orphans is a play by Lyle Kessler. It premiered in 1983 at the in Los Angeles starring Joe Pantoliano, Lane Smith and Paul Leiber, where it received critical and commercial success and won the Drama-Logue Award....
"..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 . In 1986, he won Broadway's Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in John Guare
John Guare
John Guare is an American playwright. He is best known as the author of The House of Blue Leaves, Six Degrees of Separation, and Landscape of the Body...
's The House of Blue Leaves
The House of Blue Leaves
The House of Blue Leaves is a play by American playwright John Guare, first staged in 1966 by Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut....
.
He made his film debut in 1980, and has played supporting roles in such films as The Manhattan Project as Lt Col Conroy, (1986), Suspect
Suspect (film)
Suspect is a 1987 mystery/courtroom film drama starring Cher, Dennis Quaid and Liam Neeson.Other notable cast members include John Mahoney, Joe Mantegna, Fred Melamed, and Philip Bosco...
and Moonstruck
Moonstruck
Moonstruck is a 1987 American romantic comedy film directed by Norman Jewison. It stars Cher, Nicolas Cage, Danny Aiello, Vincent Gardenia, and Olympia Dukakis....
(both 1987 and both starring Cher), Eight Men Out
Eight Men Out
Eight Men Out is an American dramatic sports film, released in 1988 and based on Eliot Asinof 1963 book 8 Men Out. It was written and directed by John Sayles....
, Frantic
Frantic (film)
Frantic is a 1988 thriller film directed by Roman Polanski and starring Harrison Ford and Emmanuelle Seigner.- Synopsis :Harrison Ford plays Dr. Richard Walker, a surgeon visiting Paris with his wife Sondra for a medical conference. At their hotel, she is unable to unlock her suitcase, and Walker...
and Betrayed
Betrayed (1988 film)
Betrayed is a 1988 motion picture drama directed by Costa-Gavras, written by Joe Eszterhas and starring Tom Berenger and Debra Winger.-Plot:Set in the American Midwest, the film begins with the murder of a Jewish radio host in Chicago...
(all three 1988), Say Anything... (1989), Barton Fink
Barton Fink
Barton Fink is a 1991 American film, written, directed, and produced by the Coen brothers. Set in 1941, it stars John Turturro in the title role as a young New York City playwright who is hired to write scripts for a movie studio in Hollywood, and John Goodman as Charlie, the insurance salesman who...
(1991), The Water Engine
The Water Engine
The Water Engine is a play by David Mamet that highlights the sometimes violent suppression of a disruptive alternative energy technology. The storyline setting of 1934 likely coincides with the real-life experiences of Texans Henry "Dad" and Charles H. Garrett who, in 1935, received a U.S. Patent...
(1992), In the Line of Fire
In the Line of Fire
In the Line of Fire is a 1993 American thriller film about a disillusioned and obsessed former CIA agent who attempts to assassinate the President of the United States and the Secret Service agent who tracks him...
(1993), Striking Distance
Striking Distance
Striking Distance is a 1993 thriller starring Bruce Willis, Sarah Jessica Parker, Dennis Farina, and Tom Sizemore as Pittsburgh Police officers pursuing a serial killer. It was directed by Rowdy Herrington and written by Herrington and Marty Kaplan...
(1993), The Hudsucker Proxy
The Hudsucker Proxy
The Hudsucker Proxy is a 1994 screwball comedy film written, produced, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Sam Raimi co-wrote the script and served as second unit director....
(1994), The American President
The American President (film)
The American President is a 1995 romantic comedy film directed by Rob Reiner and written by Aaron Sorkin. It stars Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen, Michael J. Fox and Richard Dreyfuss...
(1995), Primal Fear
Primal Fear (film)
Primal Fear is a 1996 American crime drama thriller film directed by Gregory Hoblit and starring Richard Gere and Edward Norton. The film tells the story of a defense attorney, Martin Vail , who defends an altar boy, Aaron Stampler , charged with the murder of a Catholic archbishop. The movie is an...
(1996), She's the One (1996), and The Broken Hearts Club
Broken Hearts Club
The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy is a 2000 American film written and directed by Greg Berlanti. It follows the lives of a group of gay friends in West Hollywood, centered around a restaurant owned by the fatherly Jack and the softball team he sponsors...
(2000). Although he has often played "straight-arrow good guy" roles, Mahoney has occasionally gone into villain
Villain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
territory, for example in Reality Bites
Reality Bites
Reality Bites is a 1994 American romantic comedy-drama film written by Helen Childress and featuring the directorial debut of Ben Stiller. It stars Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke and Stiller, with major supporting roles played by Janeane Garofalo and Steve Zahn. The film was shot on location in Austin...
, in which he played a diva talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
host who torments Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1986 film Lucas. Ryder's first significant role came in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice as a goth teenager, which won her critical and commercial recognition...
's character. He also appeared as infamous New York gangster Jimmy Burke in The Ten Million Dollar Getaway in 1991 and as hateful and insufferable college professor Dr. Leonard Hamlin on an episode of the NBC sit-com 3rd Rock From the Sun
3rd Rock from the Sun
3rd Rock from the Sun is an American sitcom that aired from 1996 to 2001 on NBC. The show is about four extraterrestrials who are on an expedition to Earth, which they consider to be a very insignificant planet...
.
Frasier
He appeared in FrasierFrasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
from its inception in 1993 until the final episode in 2004, and received numerous Emmy and Golden Globe award nominations for this role. NBC executives so highly esteemed Mahoney that Warren Littlefield
Warren Littlefield
Warren W. Littlefield is an American former television executive.A protégé of Brandon Tartikoff, Littlefield developed Cheers, The Cosby Show, and The Golden Girls as senior and executive vice president of NBC Entertainment under Tartikoff...
declared he was pre-approved when the Frasier creative team suggested casting him as the father.
Mahoney also appeared in an episode of Cheers
Cheers
Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
as an inept jingle writer named Sy Flembeck in the eleventh season, episode 5, including a brief conversation with Frasier Crane
Frasier Crane
Frasier W. Crane, M.D., Ph.D., A.P.A. is a fictional character on the American television sitcoms Frasier and Cheers. He was played by Kelsey Grammer for 20 years, tying the record for the longest-running character on prime-time American television, which was set by James Arness, who played Marshal...
(Kelsey Grammer
Kelsey Grammer
Allen Kelsey Grammer is an American actor and comedian. He is most widely known for his two-decade portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the sitcoms Cheers and Frasier...
), whose father he would later play.
Voice acting
Mahoney's first voice job was in W.B. YeatsYeats
W. B. Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright.Yeats may also refer to:* Yeats ,* Yeats , an impact crater on Mercury* Yeats , an Irish thoroughbred racehorse-See also:...
' "The Words upon the Window-Pane" for the award-winning National Radio Theater
National Radio Theater
The National Radio Theater was a non-profit independent producer of radio plays created in Chicago by Yuri Rasovsky and Michelle M. Faith. Long affiliated with classical FM station WFMT, NRT was active from January 1973 to April 1986. Its programs were heard primarily over public radio stations...
of Chicago. He also provided the voices for several characters in the animated
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
film Antz
Antz
Antz is a 1998 American computer animated action adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation. It features the voices of well-known actors such as Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Jennifer Lopez, Sylvester Stallone, Dan Aykroyd, Anne Bancroft, Gene Hackman, Christopher Walken, and Danny Glover as...
(1998), as well as Preston Whitmore in Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a 2001 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. Written by Tab Murphy, directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, and produced by Don Hahn, it is the first science fiction film in the Disney animated features canon and the 41st overall. The film...
and Atlantis: Milo's Return
Atlantis: Milo's Return
Atlantis: Milo's Return, released in 2003, is Disney's twentieth animated direct-to-video sequel. It is a sequel to the film Atlantis: The Lost Empire....
, General Rogard in The Iron Giant
The Iron Giant
The Iron Giant is a 1999 animated film produced by Warner Bros. Animation, based on the 1968 novel The Iron Man by Ted Hughes. Brad Bird directed the film, which stars a voice cast of Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick, Jr., Vin Diesel, Eli Marienthal, Christopher McDonald and John Mahoney...
(1999), and Kronk's Papi in Kronk's New Groove
Kronk's New Groove
Kronk's New Groove is a 2005 direct-to-video animated film released by The Walt Disney Company on December 13, 2005. The film is the sequel to the 2000 animated film The Emperor's New Groove, and features reprises of the roles of David Spade, John Goodman, Eartha Kitt, Patrick Warburton and Wendie...
(succeeded by Jeff Bennett in The Emperor's New School
The Emperor's New School
The Emperor's New School is an American animated television series that airs on Disney Channel, ABC Kids, and Disney XD and is produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. The show is based on the characters from The Emperor's New Groove and its direct-to-video sequel Kronk's New Groove...
). In 2007, he provided the voice of Sideshow Bob
Sideshow Bob
Robert Underdunk Terwilliger, better known as Sideshow Bob, is a recurring character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Kelsey Grammer and first appeared briefly in the episode "The Telltale Head". Bob is a self-proclaimed genius who is a graduate of Yale, a member of...
's father, Dr. Robert Terwilliger Sr. in "Funeral for a Fiend
Funeral for a Fiend
"Funeral for a Fiend" is the eighth episode of The Simpsons nineteenth season and first aired on November 25, 2007. It was written by Michael Price and was directed by Rob Oliver. It features Kelsey Grammer in his tenth appearance as Sideshow Bob, as well as David Hyde Pierce in his second...
", an episode of The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
. This reunited him with his Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
co-stars Kelsey Grammer
Kelsey Grammer
Allen Kelsey Grammer is an American actor and comedian. He is most widely known for his two-decade portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the sitcoms Cheers and Frasier...
and David Hyde Pierce
David Hyde Pierce
David Hyde Pierce is an American actor and comedian best known for playing psychiatrist Dr. Niles Crane on the NBC sitcom Frasier, for which he received many accolades including four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.-Early life:Pierce, the youngest of four siblings,...
, who voiced his character's sons: Sideshow Bob
Sideshow Bob
Robert Underdunk Terwilliger, better known as Sideshow Bob, is a recurring character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Kelsey Grammer and first appeared briefly in the episode "The Telltale Head". Bob is a self-proclaimed genius who is a graduate of Yale, a member of...
and Cecil, respectively.
Current work
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 ERER (TV series)
ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
as an elderly drag queen
Drag queen
A drag queen is a man who dresses, and usually acts, like a caricature woman often for the purpose of entertaining. There are many kinds of drag artists and they vary greatly, from professionals who have starred in films to people who just try it once. Drag queens also vary by class and culture and...
in the episode, "Somebody to Love", and in the 2007 romantic comedy film Dan in Real Life
Dan in Real Life
Dan in Real Life is a 2007 American comedy-drama film directed by Peter Hedges, starring Steve Carell and Juliette Binoche.-Plot:Dan Burns is a newspaper advice columnist, a widower, and a controlling father to his children Jane, Cara and Lilly in the New Jersey suburbs. His column is in...
, co-starring as the father of Steve Carell
Steve Carell
Steven John "Steve" Carell is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office...
, himself a veteran of Chicago theatre
Chicago theatre
Chicago theatre refers not only to theatre performed in Chicago, Illinois but also to the movement in that town that saw a number of small, meagerly-funded companies grow to institutions of national and international significance. Chicago had long been a popular destination for tours sent out from...
. 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. On March 5, 2009 Mahoney made a brief appearance on USA
USA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
's Burn Notice
Burn notice
A burn notice is an official statement issued by one intelligence agency to other agencies. It states that an individual or a group is unreliable for one or more reasons...
at the end of its second season
Burn Notice (season 2)
Burn Notice is an American television comedy-drama series created by Matt Nix and starring Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar, Bruce Campbell, and Sharon Gless. The second season premiered July 10, 2008...
. His character, referred to only as "Management", is a senior covert intelligence agency official and apparently the main mover of the conspiracy which blacklist
Blacklist
A blacklist is a list or register of entities who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. As a verb, to blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize a person from a certain social circle...
ed Michael Westen
Michael Westen
Michael Westen is a fictional character played by Jeffrey Donovan in the television series Burn Notice. Michael, a spy, was abruptly blacklisted while on an assignment. Forced to go back to his hometown of Miami, Florida, he finds himself cut off from the United States Intelligence Community...
. He also appeared in the third season finale
Burn Notice (season 3)
The third season of the American television spy drama Burn Notice premiered on June 4, 2009 on the cable television channel USA Network...
, broadcast on March 4, 2010—in a cliffhanger that suggests his role will continue into the fourth season.
Mahoney joined the cast of the HBO drama, In Treatment
In Treatment
In Treatment is an American HBO drama, produced and developed by Rodrigo Garcia, about a psychologist, 50-something Dr. Paul Weston, and his weekly sessions with patients, as well as those with his own therapist at the end of the week. The program, which stars Gabriel Byrne as Paul, debuted on...
, 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. Cdr. Wally Durham.
Despite all the numerous successes throughout his career, Mahoney has maintained that his early work in Lyle Kessler
Lyle Kessler
Lyle Kessler is an American playwright, screenwriter and actor, best known internationally for Orphans, the play he wrote in 1983.-Actor:...
's play Orphans
Orphans (Lyle Kessler play)
Orphans is a play by Lyle Kessler. It premiered in 1983 at the in Los Angeles starring Joe Pantoliano, Lane Smith and Paul Leiber, where it received critical and commercial success and won the Drama-Logue Award....
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 of 2011, Mahoney began rehearsing The Outgoing Tide, a new play by Bruce Graham at Northlight Theatre in Skokie, Illinois
Skokie, Illinois
Skokie is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Its name comes from a Native American word for "fire". A Chicago suburb, for many years Skokie promoted itself as "The World's Largest Village". Its population, per the 2000 census, was 63,348...
(a suburb of Chicago). The play also stars fellow Chicago actors Rondi Reed
Rondi Reed
Rondi Reed is an American stage actress, singer and performer.-Career:Reed has been a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago, Illinois, for 30 years, appearing in 51 productions with the company....
and Thom Cox.
In 2011, he had a guest appearance on the TV Land
TV Land
TV Land is an American cable television network launched on April 29, 1996. It is owned by MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, which also owns Paramount Pictures, and networks such as MTV and Nickelodeon...
sitcom Hot In Cleveland
Hot in Cleveland
Hot in Cleveland is an American sitcom on TV Land starring Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick and Betty White. The series, which is TV Land's first original scripted series, premiered on June 16, 2010, and was TV Land's highest rated telecast in the cable network's 14-year history. The...
playing a waiter. This reunited him with his Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
co-stars Jane Leeves
Jane Leeves
Jane Leeves is an English film, stage, and television actress, comedienne and dancer.Leeves made her screen debut with a small role in the 1983 popular British comedy television show The Benny Hill Show. Leeves moved to the United States, where she performed in small roles until she secured a...
and Wendie Malick
Wendie Malick
Wendie Malick is an American actress and former fashion model, known for her roles as Judith Tupper Stone on the HBO series Dream On , Nina Van Horn on the NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me! , Ronee Lawrence on the NBC sitcom Frasier and Victoria Chase on the TV Land sitcom Hot in Cleveland .-Early...
, who was also his co-star in the movie The American President.
Personal life
Along with on-screen son, David Hyde PierceDavid Hyde Pierce
David Hyde Pierce is an American actor and comedian best known for playing psychiatrist Dr. Niles Crane on the NBC sitcom Frasier, for which he received many accolades including four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.-Early life:Pierce, the youngest of four siblings,...
, John is godfather to Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
co-star Jane Leeves
Jane Leeves
Jane Leeves is an English film, stage, and television actress, comedienne and dancer.Leeves made her screen debut with a small role in the 1983 popular British comedy television show The Benny Hill Show. Leeves moved to the United States, where she performed in small roles until she secured a...
's son, Finn.