Malachy McCourt, the Irish-American actor, raconteur and author best known to TV audiences for his long-running role as Kevin the bartender on ABC’s soap Ryan’s Hope, died today in Manhattan after battling a heart condition and cancer.
He was 92. His death was announced by his wife Diana McCourt to The New York Times. The brother of Pulitzer Prize-winning Angela’s Ashes memoirist Frank McCourt, Malachy McCourt left an indelible mark on New York City’s Irish American community.
As the owner of the quintessential 1950s Irish pub Malachy’s on Third Avenue in Manhattan – McCourt would often call it the city’s first singles bar, since he welcomed unaccompanied women to the establishment – the Brooklyn native became one of the city’s great story-tellers, regaling patrons from longshoremen to the actor Richard Harris with blarney, rugby talk and biographical anecdotes.
His way with words would hold him in good stead through a wide-ranging career path that included acting, writing, talk-show hosting and politics.
Read more on deadline.com