PEABODY — John Corcoran recalls the time he met Paul Newman. “I busted him in the nose. Everybody gasped.”
He also remembers the time he steeled himself for a slap in the face from Richard Gere. Instead, the actor punched Corcoran in the kisser and kneed him in the groin.
Corcoran, a Lynn native best known locally as an Irish folk singer and children’s entertainer, earned his living as a stuntman for many years, appearing on film sets with Newman (“Fort Apache, The Bronx”), Gere (“The Cotton Club”), Robin Williams (“The World According to Garp”), James Cagney (“Ragtime”), and other stars of stage and screen. There’s a photo in his home near the South elementary school of him standing next to Art Carney; after a half-hour in makeup, he was the spitting image of the actor during 1984’s “A Doctor’s Story.”
Corcoran achieved success early as one half of The Corcoran Brothers (with younger brother Brian), who had a devoted national following and performed frequently at the former Harp & Bard Irish restaurant in Danvers.
Corcoran, 72, was honored at a sold-out tribute concert on Jan. 19 at the Lynn Knights of Columbus hall. Some 300 tickets were sold in a matter of minutes. The event included performances of Corcoran’s original songs and Irish and folk favorites by dozens of musicians whose careers were touched by his work.
Corcoran has throat cancer, and it is no longer responding to treatment.
“It was a wonderful celebration,” said Corcoran. “There’s a tradition that when a fellow entertainer passes, everyone meets at a home or a hall after the funeral, brings their instruments, and plays music for (the departed), music they’re known for.”
Corcoran’s son Sean, senior managing editor for news at WGBH News in Boston, asked his dad if it was OK to host such an affair while he was still alive and able to enjoy it.
“Instead of a funeral, there was food and beer and telling of stories. Friends called from Alaska, England, Chicago … and my son, Shane, put together a tape of some of my stunt work. It was quite the party,” said John Corcoran, with a grin. Lynn Mayor Thomas M. McGee, whose father and Corcoran’s dad were best buddies in their Pine Hill neighborhood, attended. Last month, McGee presented a citation to Corcoran that said: “In recognition of your 50-year career in entertainment, bringing music and laughter to generations while representing the city of Lynn with distinction throughout the country.”
Wednesday morning, John Corcoran sat and chatted in the “picture room” of the Peabody home where he and his wife of 50 years, Frances, who grew up in this house, raised three children. Photographs of the kids — Sean, Erin and Shane — six grandchildren, and other family members fill nearly every square inch of its four walls.
He’s in good spirits, happy to revisit his abundant life, realizing that he’s brought much joy to many through the years. He has come to accept his fate.
Corcoran, the oldest of John and Rose Corcoran’s 15 kids, began performing at age 15, “borrowing” his older cousin’s ID so he could get hired at Rick’s Lounge in Lynn.
“I was thrilled. So was he, when he got my W-2 form in the mail.”
While still a student at St. Mary’s High School, Corcoran would catch the train to New York City and make a beeline to Washington Square, where he’d hang around with Phil Ochs and rising folkie Bob Dylan and listen to folk music.
He performed at the Ballad Tree tent at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival and later teamed with his brother Brian as The Corcoran Brothers. They performed and recorded with many of the genre’s most respected musicians, including Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers.
Corcoran performed for President Jimmy Carter during his 1978 appearance at Lynn City Hall. He said he got into a dust-up with a security guard who insisted on checking out his guitar case “to make sure it wasn’t filled with hidden weapons.”
While at St. Mary’s elementary school, he played violin with the Boston Pops Children’s Orchestra, with Leonard Bernstein conducting. “I couldn’t play violin and I couldn’t read music, so I copied the girl next to me.”
There’s even an amusing story regarding his courtship with the former Frances Buckley, a Lynn English High grad. “I was visiting a friend at Lynn Hospital. We were in the cafeteria … and the student nurses came in. I saw Fran and said ‘Wow! Who’s she?’ Turns out, the guy I asked was dating her. Within two weeks I conned her into going out with me. Our first date was disastrous.” At son Sean’s urging, he declined to elaborate.
“Years later, I asked Fran ‘Why did you marry me?’ She said ‘I thought your black hair looked great against my blond.’ She has always been witty and funny.”
After forming his own group, John Corcoran and Co., he worked at many of Boston’s Irish pubs. He was a mainstay at The Black Rose in Boston and at The Prince Restaurant in Saugus, where he performed four nights a week and hosted children shows on weekends. Known for his rich singing voice and heartfelt songwriting, he played a 12-string Martin guitar and mixed humor and storytelling into his musical act, a complete entertainer.
A scholarship has been created in his name that will support a student at St. Mary’s High School who is involved in the performing arts. Donations to the John Corcoran Memorial Scholarship can be made online at https://www.stmaryslynn.com/give/give-online. Click “gift in honor of” and then type “John Corcoran.” Checks can also be sent to St. Mary’s High School, 35 Tremont St., Lynn, MA 01902. Please designate the gift to John Corcoran in the memo field.
