Writer, director and actor Douglas McGrath has died at the age of 64.
The Tony and Oscar nominee recently starred in the off-Broadway autobiographical show Everything’s Fine, which he also wrote. His death on November 3 was announced by the show’s producers Daryl Roth, Tom Werner and John Lithgow, who also directed.
“The company Everything’s Fine was honored to have presented his autobiographical solo show,” the statement said. “Everyone who worked with him over the past three months of production has been struck by his grace, charm and quirky sense of humor and offers his family our deepest condolences.”
The last performance was on November 2nd. The one-man show about a dark incident in McGrath’s teenage years had received strong reviews. In an article for The New York Times, Elisabeth Vincentelli praised the “can’t look away quality of a slow-motion crash” and claimed that “you might be horrified, but you’re laughing, excited to hear what happens next , and at the same time afraid of it”. Vincentelli has since tweeted that his death was “a sudden, terrible shock.”
Details of the cause of death were not disclosed.
McGrath began his career in 1980 as a writer for Saturday Night Live. He later received an Oscar nomination for co-writing the screenplay for Bullets Over Broadway in collaboration with Woody Allen in 1995. He has also appeared as an actor in several of Allen’s films including Celebrity, Small Time Crooks and Café Society.
He also wrote and directed the adaptation of Emma (1996), starring Gwyneth Paltrow, the adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby (2002), starring Charlie Hunnam, and the Truman Capote drama Infamous (2006), starring Toby Jones.
McGrath received a Tony nomination for writing the book for Beautiful: The Carole King Musical on Broadway. Writing for the Guardian in 2018, McGrath praised King for never asking him to “soften or enhance the events of her life”. His other credits as a playwright included Checkers and The Age of Innocence.
As an on-screen actor, McGrath has also appeared on The Quiz Show, Todd Solondz’s Happiness, 2007’s Michael Clayton, and several episodes of HBO’s Girls as director Toby Cook. Jenni Konner, co-showrunner and one of the writers and directors of Girls tweeted: “We had the best time with him on Girls. Such a great talent. Such a nice man. REST IN PEACE.”
He is survived by his wife, Jane Read Martin, and son, Henry McGrath.