John Mahoney was a renowned American actor, born in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, as the seventh of eight children to Margaret and Reg, a baker, who evacuated their family to the seaside resort of Blackpool to escape the Nazi bombing of their native Manchester during World War II. The Mancunian Mahoneys eventually returned to Manchester during the war, before John's family made the decision to emigrate to the United States, with John being sponsored by his older sister, a "war bride" who had married an American.
After visiting the States to see his sister, John decided to stay and eventually won his American citizenship by serving in the U.S. Army. Mahoney's interest in acting began early, but he didn't pursue it as a career until he was nearly forty years old. He took acting classes at the St. Nicholas Theater and eventually gained the courage to quit his day job and focus on acting full-time.
John Malkovich, a co-founder of the Second City's esteemed Steppenwolf Theatre, encouraged Mahoney to join Steppenwolf, and in 1986, Mahoney won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves. Mahoney made his feature film debut in 1980, but he is best known for his role as the father of the title character, Frasier, in the popular television show Frasier, which he played from 1993 to 2004.
In his later years, Mahoney concentrated on stage work, appearing on Broadway in 2007 in a revival of Prelude to a Kiss. John Mahoney passed away on February 4, 2018, in Chicago, Illinois, leaving behind a legacy as a talented and award-winning American actor.
