Martin madden (1965-2024)
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Actor, film writer/director, activist and sober survivor Martin William Madden passed away at the age of 59; friends, family, and former colleagues knew him as a man of compassion, generosity, and fierce advocacy.
In 2011, he wrote “Musical Chairs,” a film directed by Susan Seidelman, which won six awards at the Massachusetts Independent Film Festival in 2013. In 2015, he wrote and directed “Everyday Miracles” (starring Gary Cole and originally entitled, “Cotton”), earning accolades at the St. Tropez Film Festival and the Trail Dance Film Festival. One of Marty’s biggest passions was the theater. In 2018, he played Gloucester in “King Lear” at the Adobe Rose Theater and Ed in “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” at the Santa Fe Playhouse. He also portrayed John in “The Shawl” at Los Alamos Little Theatre, earning rave reviews. In 2019, Marty was part of the cast of “Measure for Measure” at the Swan Theater. In 2021, he wrote and directed “Funeral Queen,” a short film about a Santa Fe funeral director and drag queen. His most recent work, “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940,” opened on May 31, 2024, at Theatre Palisades. Marty had a lifelong dedication to advocacy which was equally distinguished - from his work with the gay community during the AIDS crisis, to women’s empowerment and wildlife conservation. In his mid-twenties, Marty did groundbreaking and impactful volunteer work with Test Positive Aware Network and Open Hand Chicago, delivering meals to gay men suffering from AIDS during the height of the epidemic. In Rwanda, he helped build a shelter for women artisans in partnership with the African Wildlife Foundation, and worked to support women post-genocide as well as preserve the endangered gorilla population. Born in Evanston IL, Marty grew up in Itasca IL and graduated from Lake Park High School in 1983. Marty’s creative career began at the University of Illinois, where he earned a BFA in the Performing Arts in 1987. After college, Marty moved to LA, where he addressed his struggles with addiction, and thanks to the support he received through rehab and meetings, he enjoyed decades of successful sober living. Marty later pursued a Juris Doctor degree at Chicago-Kent College of Law, graduating in 1997 with a focus on Native American Law. Having just recently been accepted into the University of Southern California, he was set to to pursue a Masters of Social Work degree in the fall of 2024. Marty is survived by a family of friends whom he loved dearly, as well as his mother, Mary Ellen Madden, his sisters Maureen (Christopher) Durack, Margaret (Andrew) Ward, and Michelle (Liam) Dempsey, his brother-in-law Keith (Claudia) Grieshaber, many nieces and nephews, including six grand nieces and nephew, with one more grand-nephew on the way. Previously departed family includes his father, William Madden and his sister, Mary Patricia Grieshaber (to whom Marty donated bone marrow during her fight against Aplastic Anemia). To celebrate Martin’s life, the family suggests donations to Rainbow Railroad (https://donate.rainbowrailroad.org/give/326731/#!/donation/checkout) or the Aplastic Anemia & MDS Foundation (https://www.aamds.org). |