The British-born actor John Mahoney, best known for his role as Martin Crane in the US sitcom Frasier, has died aged 77, his manager says.
Mahoney died on Sunday while in hospice care in Chicago, TMZ reports.
Mahoney played the unpretentious, blunt father of Frasier and Niles Crane in the hit comedy, who were portrayed by Kelsey Grammer and David Hyde Pierce.
Frasier ran for 11 seasons from 1993-2004 and Mahoney won a SAG award in 2000 in for the role.
Mahoney was also nominated for two Emmys and two Golden Globes.
Born in Blackpool, he moved to the US as a young man and started out in theatre, winning a Tony award in 1986, before turning to television.
The British-born actor starred as Martin Crane alongside his on-screen sons Kelsey Grammer, who played the titular Frasier, and David Hyde Pierce, who played Niles, in the sitcom for a whopping 11 seasons, from 1993 to 2004.
In 2000, he was awarded a SAG Award for his work on the show, and was also nominated for two Emmy Awards and two Golden Globes.
Besides starring in the hugely popular sitcom, John also had a lucrative film career, with roles in productions including The American President, Say Anything… and Eight Men Out.
Most recently, John had a recurring role in TV Land’s Hot In Cleveland, where he appeared as Roy in six episodes between 2011 and 2014.
His last TV appearance was in Foyle’s War in 2015, where he played Andrew Del Mar.
Aside from his careers in film and television, John was also active in theatre, and won a Tony in 1986.
John was intensely private about his personal life, but is thought to have never married, despite previously claiming to have been in several relationships.
However it is for Martin Crane, the grumpy ex-cop father of Frasier and Niles Crane that John Mahoney is best known.
Starring in Frasier alongside Kelsey Grammer and David Hydge Pierce for 11-years, the show was originally a spin-off from the mega-hit Cheers.
However, Frasier became one of the most successful follow-on shows in history securing 37-Primetime Emmy Awards - which in 2004 was a record for any television show.
Playing an ex-Seattle cop forced by injury to gate-crash his son's luxury lifestyle the clash of salt-of-the-earth police officer and cultured psychiatrist provided crux of the witty comedy the show became known for.
Mahoney received two supporting actor Emmy nominations for his work on the show but sadly failed to win.
"I'm very proud to have 'Frasier' as my television legacy," Mahoney told the Associated Press in 2014. "I've done a lot of good television myself. But still I think nothing can quite compare to 'Frasier.'"
Born in 1940 the seventh of eight children, Mahoney was born in Blackpool in England after his family left their family home in Manchester to avoid Germany bombing during the Second World War.
Indeed, his early life in Manchester allowed him to school fellow Brit Jane Leeves in getting the city accent right for her Frasier character, Daphne Moon, a kooky physical therapist from Lancashire.
Mahoney moved to the United States as a teenager with his sister Vera and he studied at Quincy University in Illinois and joined the US Army, which helped him become a citizen in 1959.
He worked through the 1960s and 1970s as a former Midwestern medical-magazine editor and he quit his job there in his his late 30s to take up his passion of acting.
He joined the famed Steppenwolf Theater revue of Chicago soon after and then moved to New York to further his burgeoning career.
Mahoney quickly became noted for an off-Broadway production of Orphans and he received a Theater World Award for that performance.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-5355555/Frasier-star-John-Mahoney-dies-77-Chicago-hospice.html#ixzz56Hsfciz4
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