Malachy McCourt facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Malachy McCourt
McCourt in 2011
Born	Malachy Gerard McCourt (1931-09-20)September 20, 1931 New York City, U.S.
Died	March 11, 2024(2024-03-11) (aged 92)
Citizenship	United States Ireland
Occupation	Actor writer
Political party	Green Party of New York
Spouse(s)	Linda Wachsman ​ ​ (m. 1958; div. 1961)​ Diana Galin ​ (m. 1965)​
Children	5
Relatives	Frank McCourt (brother) Alphie McCourt (brother)

Malachy Gerard McCourt (September 20, 1931 – March 11, 2024) was an American actor and writer of Irish ancestry. He was the 2006 Green Party candidate for governor of New York, losing to the Democratic candidate Eliot Spitzer. He was the younger brother of author Frank McCourt.

Early life

Malachy Gerard McCourt was born in New York City on September 20, 1931, the son of Irish parents Angela (née Sheehan) and Malachy McCourt.

Malachy McCourt was the last survivor of their seven offspring, following the death of his younger brother Alphonsus in 2016. McCourt was raised in Limerick, Ireland, and returned to the United States in 1952.

Career

McCourt at his home in March 2007

McCourt has acted on stage, on television and in several movies, including The Molly Maguires (1970), The Brink's Job (1978), Q (1982), Brewster's Millions (1985), Tales from the Darkside as Dr Stillman in the "Ursu Minor" episode (2/10 - 1985), The January Man (1989), Beyond the Pale (2000), and Ash Wednesday (2002). He appeared on several New York City-based soap operas: Another World, Ryan's Hope, Search for Tomorrow, and One Life to Live. He is also known for his annual Christmas-time appearances on All My Children as Father Clarence, a priest who shows up to give inspirational advice to Pine Valley citizens.

In 1970, McCourt released a spoken word album on vinyl, And the Children Toll the Passing of the Day, with photos on the back of the album cover; the producer was David Hess.

In the 1970s, he hosted a talk show on WMCA.

McCourt occasionally appeared on various programs on New York City's political radio station, WBAI. Among the shows on which he appeared were Radio Free Éireann. He was also a regular guest artist at Scranton Public Theatre in Scranton, Pennsylvania, having performed in Inherit the Wind, Love Letters and A Couple of Blaguards, which he co-wrote with brother Frank McCourt. He has hosted a Sunday morning call-in radio forum on WBAI. He also had a short-lived role as a Catholic priest on the HBO prison drama Oz.

McCourt was the owner of Malachy's, a bar on Third Avenue in New York. One of his frequent patrons was actor, and friend, Richard Harris, who although famous worked for a short time behind the bar for McCourt. McCourt played Francis Preston Blair in Gods and Generals (2003).

Writing

McCourt visiting Barnes & Noble Tribeca's yearly tribute to James Joyce

McCourt has written two memoirs titled, respectively, A Monk Swimming and Singing My Him Song, detailing his life in Ireland and his later return to the United States. He has also authored a book on the history of the ballad Danny Boy, and put together a collection of Irish writings, called Voices of Ireland.

A Monk Swimming

In 1998, McCourt authored A Monk Swimming, a memoir of his life in Limerick, Ireland, and of his experiences when he came to the United States. The book recounts the journey and the many obstacles that McCourt had to overcome. After first working as a longshoreman, he was able to open a successful Manhattan tavern frequented by entertainment celebrities, and appeared on television talk shows, although neglecting his wife and child.

This memoir picks up roughly where Frank McCourt, the author's older brother, left off at the end of his Pulitzer Prize–winning Angela's Ashes. This book was written and published before the elder McCourt published his own sequels, 'Tis and Teacher Man.

Malachy McCourt's account of his early years in New York City and its surrounding areas lends a different, if not altogether more brusque, account of Frank and Malachy McCourt's respective returns to their native United States, and the migration of Michael and Alphie McCourt, from their native Limerick.

Some notable sections include:

• A chance meeting with Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at a football club reception for the couple.
• A "summer of content" in Long Island spent living in Ocean Bay Park and Fire Island at night while selling The Bible door-to-door across the Great South Bay in Bay Shore.
• The description of the Ancient Order of Hibernians as "Ireland's most mediocre sons" (paraphrase). This seems to be tied to their banning of homosexual groups from marching in the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade.

The title is a mondegreen of "amongst women", a phrase from the Catholic rosary prayer, Hail Mary.

The book is dedicated to Paul O'Dwyer, a New York City politician, humanitarian, and fellow Irishman who had recently died at the time of the book's publication. McCourt and O'Dwyer were close friends and politically like-minded.

Politics

In April 2006, McCourt announced that he would seek to become governor of New York in the November 2006 election as a Green Party candidate. Running under the slogan "Don't waste your vote, give it to me", McCourt promised to recall the New York National Guard from Iraq, to make public education free through college, and to institute a statewide comprehensive "sickness care" system. McCourt polled at 5% in a 10 October Zogby poll, versus 25% for Republican John Faso and 63% for Democrat Eliot Spitzer. McCourt was endorsed by Cindy Sheehan, mother of a fallen soldier in the Iraq War. The League of Women Voters excluded him from the gubernatorial debate. He came in a distant third in the general election, received 40,729 votes (or just under 1%), 9,271 votes short of what was required to gain automatic access in the 2010 election.

Personal life

McCourt married Linda Wachsman, and had two children with her: daughter Siobhán and son Malachy III; he had two more children by his second wife, Diana Galin: sons Conor and Cormac. He also has a stepdaughter, Nina Galin.

In 1960, he was one of the four founding members of the Manhattan Rugby Football Club. Malachy appears in his older brother Frank McCourt's memoirs.

McCourt was portrayed by Peter Halpin in the film version of his brother's memoir Angela's Ashes.

Malachy McCourt died on March 11, 2024, at the age of 92.]

See also

In Spanish: Malachy McCourt para niños