How being a mummy’s boy and prime minister’s son paid off for Julian McMahon
Much like his vivacious mother and hardworking father, wherever actor Julian McMahon went drama ensued, and Hollywood and Australian TV and films are all the richer for it.
Julian McMahon had more nuance, depth and life experience than most stars and “celebrities” – old and, most definitely, new – possessed in their enhanced fingernails.
The actor died at the weekend from cancer. He was 56.
“With an open heart, I wish to share with the world that my beloved husband, Julian McMahon, died peacefully this week after a valiant effort to overcome cancer,” his third wife, Kelly Paniagua, told Deadline.
McMahon was the son of a former prime minister who cut his teeth on Home & Away and married Dannii Minogue in 1994 amid a storm of tabloid controversy as his society queen mother despised the bride.
With that apprenticeship, it’s not surprising he went on to create the most menacing male persona of the early 2000s, while Andrew Tate was still shadow-boxing in absorbent Y-fronts.
Dr Christian Troy in the hit series Nip/Tuck was McMahon’s seminal role.
A casting that went on to land him a Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of the cold, calculating, philandering cosmetic surgeon in the cult Ryan Murphy show.
Early reviews of his breakout performance labelled him “an arrogant, vagina-seeking missile”.
“Tell me what you don’t like about yourself?” was Dr Troy’s opening line to patients and his many paramours as he made blunt observations about pain, beauty and human nature.
His dark humour, ruthless behaviour and playboy ways were years before the #MeToo movement and advent of dating apps, but sent shivers down the spine of any self-respecting viewer. It was as if his childhood being surrounded by politicians back home in Australia had really prepared him well for his big break in Hollywood.
McMahon, the son of our longest-serving government minister, Billy McMahon and the irrepressible Lady Sonia McMahon, rarely spoke of his posh pedigree, but clearly being raised in the surrounds of Kirribilli House taught him more than a thing or two about folly, fantasy and drama, more so than his arts degree from the University of Wollongong.
His flair for the limelight and magnetic stage presence were not traits that were taught, they were imprinted on his DNA from his late mother.
A woman so powerful she overshadowed her husband and shocked the White House. Not with her words, just a dress with a thigh-high split and flesh cut-outs to dine with president Richard Nixon in 1971.
The Americans were agog.
The leader of the free world enamoured.
The prime minister’s speech, much like his career, was overshadowed by the fact he chose that frock for his wife.
“Is it Parisian?” Nixon asked.
“No. Australian,” Lady Sonia replied curtly of the creation by Melbourne designer Victoria Cascajo. It was a look she replicated, some 34 years later, as she joined her son on the red carpet for his Hollywood awards season.
This chutzpah and charisma oozed out of her son as he made his mark in Tinseltown. However, like his father, the toil was long and he was up for the job.
It wasn’t until he was well into his 30s where he scored a role on popular supernatural soap Charmed, alongside the late Shannen Doherty (whom he at one point dated). He played a half-human, half-demon assassin and turned the show’s camp factor up to 10 with the trademark glint in his piercing blue eyes.
“I’m going straight to hell, ’cause it’s got to be a sin to look this good,” he said.
A role in box office hit Fantastic Four followed but his most recent projects showed his career was on the cusp of a third act in the age of streaming.
He starred alongside Nicolas Cage in Australian film The Surfer, produced for Stan in regional Western Australia. The pair promoted the film at SXSW in Austin, Texas, in March.
It was to be McMahon’s final public appearance.
“Our scenes together on The Surfer were among my favourites I have ever participated in, and Julian is one of my favourite people. He was a kind and intelligent man,” Cage said on Sunday.
His curtain call was playing fictional prime minister Stephen Roos in Shonda Rhimes’s comedic – almost farcical – whodunit mystery series, The Residence, on Netflix.
It was highly anticipated, not just for his connection to politics but due to his co-star being his former sister-in-law, Kylie Minogue.
Just like his mother, wherever he was, high-energy drama followed and it was captivating, brilliant and entertaining.
He is survived by his wife and daughter Madison.
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