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Leary's Fired Up


Published Tuesday, March 10, 2009, 4:12 PM
Updated Thursday, July 23, 2009, 6:10 PM

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In 1999 Denis Leary, creator and star of the hugely popular series Rescue Me, lost his first cousin and a high school classmate in a fire in an abandoned warehouse in downtown Worcester, Massachusetts. To work though his overwhelming loss he founded the Leary Firefighters Foundation a year later, an organization that intentionally cuts through red tape to provide fire departments with funding and up-to-date equipment and training. He talks to CAHIR O'DOHERTY about his work.

THE first thing you notice about Denis Leary is that his famous scowl hasn't changed, but his signature blond locks have been dyed a dark red for a new feature film role. It's a dramatic transformation, and on Tuesday evening of last week some of his firefighter buddies are giving him a hard time for it. But it's only gentle ribbing because the night also marked the seventh annual Leary Firefighters Foundation bash, held at Cipriani's on Wall Street. The firefighters are grateful for his efforts on their behalf.

"People are asking me, 'What's going on with your hair?'" Leary told the Irish Voice during an interview before the party got underway. "I think they're trying to tell me my hair's messed up."

If he's bothered he doesn't look it as the cameras erupt when he steps onto the red carpet. He's smiling and looking happy, and everything about the night seems to be going to plan, but there's only one small problem. After several nights of high profile engagements on behalf of the foundation Leary has almost lost his voice.

If he gets a little hoarse at times it's no wonder. As the creator and lead actor, writer, producer of Rescue Me - and in his new starring role alongside Kevin Spacey in the forthcoming film about the 2000 election called Recount - not to mention his national multi-million dollar philanthropy work, it's amazing Leary has time to draw a breath some days.

It looks as if Leary's hectic schedule of write, shoot, and repeat isn't about to stop any time soon, either. Rescue Me, which recently finished its fourth season on FX, has become a breakout hit for the network, which has announced that the show will double in size for its fifth season. That means that in 2008 FX will be producing 22 episodes instead of the usual 13.

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