Even though actor and Second City alum Mike Hagerty lived in Los Angeles, to the crowd gathered Tuesday evening at McNally’s, an Irish bar in Beverly, it was as if he never left the neighborhood where he grew up.
Known for his South Side Chicagoese and regular guy persona, Hagerty died May 5 from a sudden illness.
He’d made a name for himself as a character actor in Hollywood. The Irish Catholic son of a cop appeared in several films, including “Brewster’s Millions,” “So I Married an Axe Murderer,” “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me,” “Inspector Gadget,” “The Hillside Strangler Murders” and “Thin Ice.”
His performance as Kurt Russell’s drinking buddy in “Overboard,” co-starring Goldie Hawn, was just one of many of his regular guy roles. He also played a cop, furniture salesman, furniture mover, clerk, plumber, peanut vendor, property manager, movie theatre usher and boat rental operator.
With his round face, mop of curly hair and signature mustache, he also stole plenty of scenes in sitcoms, including “Friends,” “Cheers,” “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
More recently, he took on a dramatic role as Ed Miller, the father character in HBO’s “Somebody Somewhere.” He was scheduled to begin shooting the show’s second season in a few weeks in Naperville and nearby locations.
Tuesday would have been Hagerty’s 68th birthday. Lettering on the sign outside of McNally’s, 11346 S. Western Ave., read, “MIKE HAGERTY A GUY WHO NEVER FORGOT WHERE HE CAME FROM.”
McNally’s was one of Hagerty’s favorite hangouts, according to Maggie Duffy, a fellow 1968 graduate of St. Cajetan Elementary School. She arranged for the “Big Chill” style reunion of about 40 of Hagerty’s former classmates from St. Cajetan and Marist High School. The group was also joined via Zoom by Hagerty’s Second City comrades and other friends from the neighborhood who had moved to L.A.
“I thought it would be nice if everybody who knew him could at a certain point in time, lift a glass to Mike and get together to share stories.” said Duffy, who grew up in Morgan Park and now lives in Michigan.
The crowd did just that to a prerecorded toast offered by Hagerty’s fellow “Cheers” actor George Wendt. Among those gathered at McNally’s for the toast was Wendt’s younger brother, Paul Wendt. The Beverly resident and McNally’s regular bears a startling resemblance to the actor Wendt in his younger days.
Both Wendts gave the pub the feel of a “Cheers” episode, but the Chicago sense of place was unshakable. The White Sox played against the Cleveland Guardians at low volume on the bar’s flat-screen TV. A photo of fallen Chicago police Officer Ella French occupied a place of honor overlooking the bar.
Beverly resident Bill Leslie met Hagerty in 1991, at a mutual friend’s wedding in California.
“It was like he was part of a whole community of people who would hang out together and go to the same bars,” said Leslie, who ended up taking improv classes at Second City due to Hagerty and the crowd’s influence. “I ended up becoming a lawyer, but it made me more confident.” Leslie’s law office is in Evergreen Park, but at one time he was a senior assistant attorney general for Illinois.
As a teen, Bob Johnson worked with Hagerty in the Highlands restaurant in the old Carson’s store at Evergreen Plaza. “He was a great guy and had a great sense of humor,” Johnson said. “He was really nice to everybody.”
Johnson lost touch with Hagerty but the two reconnected in more recent years via Facebook.
Orland Park resident Glen Gorman also met Hagerty while working part-time at the Highlands. “I was king of the dishwashers,” he said. “We all just liked to joke around together.”
Before taking up his true calling, Hagerty also worked at a Shell filling station and repair shop once located about a block from McNally’s on Western, Gorman said. That gig most likely prepared Hagerty to play an auto mechanic for a 2000 episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
“Mike said, ‘Hey Turk, they’re hiring up at the gas station,” said Gorman, who still appreciates the nickname Hagerty gave him. Gorman ended up working with Hagerty at the station as well.
Hagerty also told Bob Fitzpatrick about an opening at the filling station. “Mike was a great friend,” said Fitzpatrick. “He showed me how to change the oil on my first car. He always had a joke. It was always fun working with him.”
Fitzpatrick and Gorman eventually bought the Shell station, which became a gathering place for Hagerty’s pals from the neighborhood.
“We’d go to ballgames and hockey games.” Fitzpatrick said. “And we all stayed in touch. We even had a reunion trip, 10 years ago and went to a Sox game.”
Mike Duffy knew Hagerty from his high school days at Marist. “He always said he was going to be an actor,” Duffy said. “He took all the acting classes. He never doubted himself and he did it. He was a very exceptional person and a great friend.”
In the 1980s, Hagerty ad-libbed Catholic humor and the names of his Beverly friends into his acts when friends came to see his performances at Second City. Over the years, he also answered local curtain calls for local community fundraisers at the Beverly Arts Center and Christ the King Catholic Parish.
Those gathered at McNally’s all shared different experiences of growing up or paling around with Hagerty, but it seemed they were all there for the same reason.
“Mike was a low-key guy, but he just affected so many people in a positive way,” said Duffy. “He wasn’t a bragster. He kept the people he met early in life close, and he never seemed to change from being a regular guy, even with the glitz and glamour of Hollywood.”
Hagerty’s family issued a statement to Bill Figel, another friend who helped organize the tribute. It read, “His love of his hometown Chicago and his family were the cornerstone of his life. Mike, a devoted husband, is survived by his wife Mary Kathryn, his sister Mary Ann Hagerty, her wife Kathleen O’Rourke, and their daughter Meg. He will be sorely missed.”
Susan DeGrane is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
