MALACHY McCOURT

McCourt, on how he became a writer: 450k WAV audio file 1.4Mb QuickTime movie McCourt, on his tough upbringing: 470k WAV audio file 1.5Mb QuickTime movie

Malachy McCourt's A Monk Swimming

BEGINNINGS

Read the first chapter of "A Monk Swimming" here.

Web posted on: Wednesday, July 22, 1998 5:06:36 PM EDT

(CNN) -- Until recently, Malachy McCourt was known primarily as an actor, appearing in films such as "The Devil's Own" and "The Bonfire of the Vanities." But the phenomenal success of the book "Angela's Ashes," a memoir by older brother Frank, had many folks wondering what sort of personal story Malachy might have to tell.

Malachy responded by turning out "A Monk Swimming," which ranks No. 3 on this week's "New York Times" best-seller list after five straight weeks. Malachy McCourt spoke with CNN anchor Miles O'Brien on CNN's Sunday Morning.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: First of all, tell us about the title. It's an interesting little story on how you came up with "A Monk Swimming."

MALACHY MCCOURT, AUTHOR, "A MONK SWIMMING": When I was a small fellow growing up in very Catholic Ireland, I thought the Hail Mary went, "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou a monk swimming."

O'BRIEN: And there you go, this is how misunderstandings start, right? It's like, remember "Garp," they always talked about the "under toad." Do you remember that? All right, now what inspired you to write this memoir.

MCCOURT: A very large advance from Hyperion.

O'BRIEN: So beyond that, they realized that Frank's book was a wild success and you must be able to write something, right?

MCCOURT: A friend of mine came to me and said, "I've heard some of your stories," and then he took it to (people who) took it to Hyperion and the rest is history.

So, anyway, I wrote it down -- nobody writes stories. Bob Dylan says, you know you don't write songs, you write them down. So I wrote them down and there they are and it's doing extremely well. A lot of people are taking offense, of course and saying, "You know, you're on your brothers coat tails."

Well, he must be wearing them affront because I'm No. 3.

O'BRIEN: Well good for you. Now tell us, I think it's worth pointing out to people that this is not just a replay of the same ground that was covered in "Angela's Ashes." You focused more on life in New York City as opposed to Limerick.

MCCOURT: My story ranges from New York to California to London, Paris, Abetha and then my gold smuggling days to India, from Zurich to Bombay where I made about six trips in the period of a year, and one of the most looney adventures that I've ever had. I went back there.

O'BRIEN: Gold smuggling, you've got to explain that a little bit to people.

MCCOURT: I was going through a very bad period, I was turning out like my father. I was being the rowdy drunk, the irresponsible husband and then neglectful father. Drinking to excess and my wife then left me and so I just plunged into a sort of morass of depression and then somebody said, "Would you like to do a job that involves travel?" And I said, "All right."

O'BRIEN: Next thing you know, you're smuggling gold.

MCCOURT: Smuggling gold from Zurich.

O'BRIEN: This happens all the time, doesn't it Malachy.

MCCOURT: Oh yes, it does, you're just sitting there having a cup of coffee in a diner or something. "How would you like to smuggle some gold?" "Oh yes, well I do that all the time. Surely."

O'BRIEN: With the right amount of lubrication, you'd probably do anything.

MCCOURT: Indeed. Well, I haven't had a lubrication now in about 13 years and I don't drink anymore. I gave up smoking, I'm a vegetarian. I'm married to the lovely Diana for the last 33 years. I did go back to India with my son Connor -- he's a filmmaker and a police sergeant here in New York -- to revisit my nefarious days. We were in Bombay and I went, "I didn't do that, did I?"

O'BRIEN: A little selective memory there. It seems to me that since you came to New York, at least for a time, you tried to live up to America's perception of what an Irishman should be, perhaps to your determent.

MCCOURT: I'm not sure that I did. All I want -- here I was, born in Brooklyn. Back to Limerick in Ireland. Lived in dire poverty with children dying all over the place, three of our siblings died. Eleven of our classmates died and my mother went into a deep depression. My father went off on the booze, and school was miserable. All the institutions failed us, we were hungry and we were miserable and cold and I left school at the age of 13 and I have no education -- no formal education as such, and I was always aware of that. So when I came here, and because I read a lot, I was able to pass myself off as being educated. So I've been doing that ever since.

O'BRIEN: It's not a brooding memoir, is it.

MCCOURT: Oh no, it's rowdy and it's bawdy and it's sexual and it's crazy. It's an odyssey. You should only do it if you're sober and happy.

O'BRIEN: How's that for a tease for a book. All right briefly before you get away, we always like to ask our authors what they're reading.

MCCOURT: At the moment, I'm reading three things -- three books I have picked up. "Big Trouble," by J. Anthony Lucas. I'm reading "Man to Man," -- rereading "Man to Man," by Michael Korda, and "Are You Somebody?" by Nuala O'Faolain.

O'BRIEN: All right, Malachy McCourt, "blessed art though, a monk swimming."

MCCOURT: And blessed art thou amongst men and women. And you're doing great there with Bobbie.

O'BRIEN: All right, we're having fun and I hope you are too, and we appreciate your joining us.

MCCOURT: Any day above ground is a good one.