Will Mahoney

William James Fitzgerald Mahoney (February 5, 1894, Helena, Montana, USA – February 9, 1967, Australia), better known as Will Mahoney, was an American-born vaudevillian performer, stage actor and theatre manager best known for his stage success in Australia. He was born in Helena, Montana, USA to Rancher Michael Fitzgerald and Mary Moran, he's father died when he was two, and his mother who had two children, Frank and Mary from a previous marriage, supported the family by holding several jobs. Along with his step-brother Frank, they devised a vaudeville act, billed as The Mahoney Brothers, and toured around United States, Mexico and Australia. He was married three times, firstly aged 21 to Iva Gibbs and toured England appearing in films, after his wife's death he married to Lililan Wilson in 1928, which he later divorced and then he married actress Evie Hayes in 1938 who appeared in his numerous stage show productions, they immigrated to Australia and were featured on the Tivoli Circuit . He had, had extensive experience on the vaudeville circuit in the US, becoming the highest paid variety star in the country by the early 1930s, when he arrived in Australia with Hayes they acting in the film Come Up Smiling (1939), after which he became a theatre manager in Australia of the Cremorne theatre in Brisbane. After the war he went back to the USA to revitilize his career, being nominated for a Tony Award in 1956 for revival of Finian's Rainbow before eventually settling permanently in Australia, in Melbourne in 1958, playing in musicals and revue and teaching a generation of young performers.He died on February 9, 1967.