‘Frasier’ Star John Mahoney Passes Away At 77-Years-Old
Sadly, the man that America came to know as Martin Crane on NBC’s hit show, Frasier, has passed away.
ABC News reports that the actor’s manager of over 30 years, Paul Martino, confirmed the news of his passing earlier today. Though the cause of death has yet to be released by Martino himself, the Chicago Tribune reports that Mahoney died after battling cancer. He was hospitalized briefly before he passed away in his adopted city of Chicago.
According to his IMDB page, Mahoney notoriously played the father of Frasier and Niles on Frasier. His performance in the series earned him many accolades, including two nominations for Golden Globes for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” in 1994 and 2001. He is also well-known for his roles in films like Flipped and Say Anything.
Mahoney was born Blackpool, Lancashire, England but eventually made his way over to the United States, where he quit his day job to become an actor when he was in his late thirties. Mahoney is one of the founders of Chicago’s famed Steppenwolf Theatre and Chicago is also the city where he made his home.
In a tweet earlier today, the Steppenwolf Theatre announced that they had chosen to cancel tonight’s performance of the play You Got Older to honor Mahoney. The tweet also mentioned that John was an ensemble of the theatre for 39 years.
John Mahoney, beloved father of TV’s Frasier, dies at 77 https://t.co/GLLxHj9k6G
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) February 5, 2018
As news of his passing spread, fans took to Twitter to honor the late actor. While most fans mentioned him for his role in Frasier, many other fans remembered John for appearing to be such a nice guy off-camera.
“Oh no!! Frasier is a comic masterpiece and John Mahoney was magnificent in that role. What a loss.”
“John Mahoney lived down the street from my parents in suburban Chicago. I ran into him more times than I can count…I can’t begin to describe how kind he was in a 280 character tweet,” another fan tweeted.
Even celebrities took to Twitter to comment on the devastating loss. Friend and former co-star John Cusack unleashed a series of tweets about Mahoney’s passing, saying that he made everyone who was around him “better” and “happier” each and every day.
“Such a lovely human -lucky enough to work with him twice,” Cusack also tweeted.
Jeff Greenberg, who worked as a casting director for Frasier, also sent a heartfelt tweet out after having worked with Mahoney for over 11 years.
“The great John Mahoney passed away today at age 77. I’ve not known a kinder man nor more brilliant actor. We were all blessed to have spent 11 glorious years together,” he wrote.
Kelsey Grammer has yet to publicly speak out of the news of his TV father’s passing but it’s probably only a matter of time until he pays tribute.
Rest in peace, Mr. Mahoney.
