Joseph Maher

Joseph Sylvester Maher (29 December 1933 – 17 July 1998) was an Irish actor, playwright, and occasional theatre director born in Westport, County Mayo, Ireland. He was one of ten children of Delia A. (née O'Malley) and Joseph Maher Sr., a schoolteacher. Maher immigrated to Canada in 1956, where he worked for an oil company before beginning his acting career with the Canadian Players, performing across Canada for three years prior to relocating to New York.

Maher's Broadway career spanned from 1964 to 1986 and encompassed a wide range of productions. His credits included Spokesong, Des Journées Entières Dans les Arbres, Loot, 84 Charing Cross Road, Night and Day, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, King Henry V, and The Royal Family, among others. He earned three Tony Award nominations for his work in Spokesong, Night and Day, and Loot. His accolades also included an Obie Award and a Laurence Olivier Award nomination. In 1986, his performance in Loot brought him the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play.

Beyond the stage, Maher accumulated an extensive list of film appearances, including For Pete's Sake, Heaven Can Wait, Time After Time, Just Tell Me What You Want, I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can, The Evil That Men Do, Frankenweenie, Funny Farm, My Stepmother is an Alien, Sister Act, The Shadow, I.Q., Mars Attacks!, In & Out, and The Out-of-Towners. On television, he held recurring roles in the soap operas Guiding Light and Another World, and guest-starred in numerous series including M*A*S*H, Wonder Woman, When Things Were Rotten, Ellery Queen, St. Elsewhere, Gimme a Break!, ALF, Moonlighting, Thirtysomething, Murder She Wrote, Seinfeld, Tales from the Crypt, and Chicago Hope.

Maher died of a brain tumor at his home in Los Angeles, California, on 17 July 1998, at the age of 64. He was buried at Aughaval Cemetery in Westport, County Mayo, the town where he was born.