On Monday, March 11, 2024, in Manhattan, Malachy McCourt, the Irish American author, bartender, and actor most remembered for his enduring role on the soap opera Ryan’s Hope, passed tragically unexpectedly. Let’s discuss Malachy McCourt’s passing in this article.
Malachy McCourt’s wife confirmed his death to The New York Times. McCourt told the Times last year that he had multiple forms of cancer, a heart condition, and muscular deterioration. However, the internet is silent about Malachy’s obituary and funeral as of the time of this publication.
McCourt starred in many movies and TV series, including The Other Guys, The Devil’s Own, Brewster’s Millions, The Molly Maguires, Starman, One Life To Live, Search For Tomorrow, Another World, Oz, Tales of the Unexpected, and Remember WENN. However, he was most known for his recurring role as the bartender Kevin on Ryan’s Hope.
On September 20, 1931, McCourt was born in Brooklyn. He later moved to Limerick with his parents and siblings. When he returned to New York in 1952 at the age of 20, he began a varied career that included work as a writer, actor, talk show host, bar owner, and more.
Frank McCourt, the brother of McCourt, wrote of their mother’s struggle to raise four of their seven surviving children in poverty in Limerick, Ireland, in his memoir Angela’s Ashes, which won the Pulitzer Prize. Moreover, McCourt wrote two memoirs: Monk Swimming (1998), which picks up where Angela’s Ashesendsoff, and Singing My Him Song (2000), which explored parenting.
Among his seven siblings, he was the eldest to survive (Frank McCourt passed away in 2009). Frank McCourt, the author of “Angela’s Ashes,” who won the Pulitzer Prize, was McCourt’s younger brother.
McCourt began his professional life as a theater actor and went on to work in nearly every media, occasionally even anchoring radio programs in New York. He also appeared on Jack Paar’s Tonight Show in a special capacity.
A mainstay of the Irish community in New York, McCourt opened Malachy’s, his own bar, on Manhattan’s Third Avenue. Richard Harris, the actor, was a personal buddy and used to work there as a bartender. In 2006, McCourt also entered the New York governor’s race.
