John Mahoney, the actor who played the role of Martin Crane on Frasier for 11 seasons, died in Chicago on Sunday while in hospice care, his manager confirmed to Variety. He was 77.
The British-born Mahoney, who moved to the Chicago area at the age of 19, didn’t fully enter acting until decades later, when John Malkovich and Gary Sinise enlisted Mahoney, then in his 40s, to join their Steppenwolf Theater Company. After winning the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play in 1986 for his role in the Broadway production of The House of Blue Leaves, Mahoney began a fruitful career in Hollywood with 1987’s Tin Men.
