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Finding Gold and Leading Roles


Published Tuesday, March 10, 2009, 4:10 PM
Updated Thursday, July 23, 2009, 6:09 PM

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Peter Gallagher is starring alongside Morgan Freeman and Frances McDormand in Clifford Odete's The Country Girl on Broadway. The multi-talented star talks to CAHIR O'DOHERTY about his Irish background, his career and sharing the stage with two Oscar winners.

BACK in the late 1970s when Peter Gallagher was starring as Danny Zuko in the musical Grease on Broadway, he invited his beloved parents Mary and Tom to see the show. Just before the performace ended his father finally realized that Peter was the lead.

"Hey, that's our Peter," he whispered to his wife.

"You old amadan, of course it is!" his wife replied.

Telling this story at his home in New York, Gallagher throws his head back and laughs at the memory. "My parents were always very supportive of my career choice, even if they couldn't always tell who I was playing on stage. I'm grateful to them for that," Gallagher told the Irish Voice during an interview last week.

His parents' strong faith in his talent was rewarded early on. From the beginning Gallagher distinguished himself as a strong leading man, earning a Tony Award nomination for his performance opposite Jack Lemmon in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night, and starring as Sky Masterson in the Tony Award winning 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls. He made his Broadway debut in the revival of Hair, and went on to star in the Broadway productions of Grease and The Corn Is Green.

Gallagher's many film credits include the Academy Award winning American Beauty and Robert Altman's highly acclaimed film The Player. From television many will know him as Sandy Cohen, the ultimate cool dad in the Fox hit drama, The O.C.

Despite his many achievements, in person Gallagher doesn't have a trace of the egotism or flash that often accompanies so many famous actors. He's polite, attentive and genuinely funny.

Born in New York City, he was raised in Yonkers (just off McLean Avenue) and then Armonk in Westchester County.

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