Malachy McCourt, who went from an actor known for his roles on soap operas to an author who told the story of his life in Ireland and the U.S. in a pair of memoirs, has died at 92, the New York Times reports.

McCourt was born in Brooklyn and raised in the Irish city of Limerick. He moved back to the U.S. when he was 20. He started his career as an actor, appearing in films including The Molly Maguires, Brewster’s Millions, The January Man, and She’s the One, but he was best known for his roles on the soap operas Ryan’s Hope and One Life to Live.

McCourt published his first memoir, A Monk Swimming, in 1998, two years after his brother Frank McCourt came out with Angela’s Ashes, his Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiography. Both books recounted the authors’ childhoods in Ireland; a critic for Kirkus wrote of A Monk Swimming, “Sporadically amusing, but just as often infuriating. Malachy is the entertainer in the family, but Frank is the writer.”

Malachy McCourt followed up A Monk Swimming in 2000 with another memoir, Singing My Him Song. In 2006, he ran for governor of New York as the Green Party candidate, garnering almost 1% of the vote.

He was remembered on social media by his admirers. On X, formerly known as Twitter, journalist Dan Barry wrote, “The great Malachy McCourt, author, actor, raconteur, and fierce advocate of justice and equality, has died at 92. In his honor, live the hell out of your life. As he would say: ‘Sing it, children!’”

And Geraldo Rivera posted, “NYC is a duller place going forward, one of the city’s brightest lights has gone out.…My deepest condolences to his wife Diana and their kids. The McCourt’s were tremendous allies in the fight for the rights of the disabled. He is missed already.”

Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.