Douglas McGrath, Playwright, Filmmaker and Actor, Dies at 64 - The New York Times

Douglas McGrath, a playwright, screenwriter, manager and histrion who was nominated for an Oscar, an Emmy and a Tony Award, and whose one-man Off Broadway show, “Everything’s Fine,” opened conscionable weeks ago, died connected Thursday astatine his bureau successful Manhattan. He was 64.

His decease was announced by the show’s producers, Daryl Roth, Tom Werner and John Lithgow. Their typical said the origin was a bosom attack.

Mr. Lithgow besides directed the show, a puerility recollection of Mr. McGrath’s astir a middle-school teacher successful Texas who gave him an inappropriate magnitude of attention.

Mr. McGrath had a wide-ranging if under-the-radar vocation successful television, movie and theater. In the 1980-81 season, conscionable retired of Princeton and inactive successful his aboriginal 20s, helium was a writer for “Saturday Night Live.” Over the adjacent decennary helium wrote wit pieces for The New Republic, The New York Times and different publications.

By the 1990s helium was making inroads successful Hollywood. He wrote the screenplay for the 1993 remake of the 1950 romanticist drama “Born Yesterday,” and the adjacent twelvemonth helium and Woody Allen collaborated connected the publication for Mr. Allen’s “Bullets Over Broadway.” The 2 shared an Oscar information for champion archetypal screenplay.

In 1996 helium adapted the Jane Austen caller “Emma” for the large surface and besides directed the film, which starred Gwyneth Paltrow. In 2000 helium and Peter Askin shared directing and screenwriting duties connected the drama “Company Man,” successful which helium besides starred, arsenic a schoolteacher who stumbles into a vocation arsenic a C.I.A. officer.

That movie drew immoderate unflattering reviews. But his next, “Nicholas Nickleby” (2002), an adaptation of the Dickens communicative that helium some wrote and directed, was good received. In The Times, A.O. Scott said that Mr. McGrath’s adaptation was rendered “with a scholar’s receptor and a showman’s flair.”

In summation to his screenwriting and directing credits (which besides included “Infamous,” a 2006 movie starring Toby Jones arsenic Truman Capote), Mr. McGrath occasionally took tiny acting roles successful different people’s projects, including respective of Mr. Allen’s films. In 2016 helium directed “Becoming Mike Nichols,” an HBO documentary astir the movie director, connected which helium was besides an enforcement producer. He shared an Emmy information with the different producers for outstanding documentary oregon nonfiction special.

Throughout, helium continued to enactment successful the theater. In 1996 helium wrote and starred successful “Political Animal,” a one-man drama that played astatine the McGinn/Cazale Theater successful Manhattan, successful which helium played a right-wing statesmanlike candidate.

“Beyond the stand-up parody,” Ben Brantley wrote successful his reappraisal successful The Times, “the larger constituent of ‘Political Animal’ is that it takes a hollow, hopeless antheral to tally for president these days.”

In 2012 his play “Checkers” — the rubric refers to a celebrated 1952 code by Richard M. Nixon — was seen astatine the Vineyard Theater successful Manhattan, with Anthony LaPaglia arsenic Nixon and Kathryn Erbe arsenic his wife, Pat.

Then came Broadway: Mr. McGrath wrote the publication for “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” which opened successful January 2014 and ran for much than 5 years. His publication was nominated for a Tony Award.

Last period Mr. Lithgow told The Daily News of New York that Mr. McGrath had sent him “Everything’s Fine” unsolicited, and that helium had nary volition of directing a play until helium work the piece.

“It was truthful play-able,” helium said, “I could simply ideate an assemblage being wholly captivated by it.”

The amusement opened successful mid-October to bully reviews.

“It is intolerable to overstate Doug’s axenic likability,” Mr. Lithgow said connected Friday. “In his solo show, helium told a agelong communicative astir his 14th year, and it worked truthful good due to the fact that helium had retained truthful overmuch of his consciousness of boyish discovery.”

Ms. Roth, different of the show’s producers, said that Mr. McGrath had been thoroughly enjoying the mode audiences were reacting arsenic helium unspooled the tale.

“The fantastic effect from the assemblage was cathartic, meaningful and joyful to him,” she said by email. “He often told maine helium was successful his ‘happy place’ onstage telling his story.”

“People often inquire maine what increasing up successful West Texas was like,” Mr. McGrath said successful “Everything’s Fine.” “I deliberation this sums it up: It’s precise hot, it’s precise dusty, and it’s very, precise windy. It’s similar increasing up wrong a stroke dryer afloat of dirt.”

He graduated from Princeton successful 1980.

“Planning my future,” helium wrote successful a 2001 effort successful The Times, “I had a precise wide thought of what I wanted to do, but a precise blurry 1 of however to bash it. I knew I wanted to constitute and execute successful my ain films successful the mode of my idol, Woody Allen. But erstwhile I went, that once, to the Career Counseling Center and faced the bulletin board, nary of the cards said, ‘Needed: writer-actor-director for large feature, nary acquisition required, indispensable beryllium consenting to gain precocious salary.’”

Yet erstwhile a person told him “S.N.L.” was hiring writers, helium sent successful immoderate sketches and landed an $850-a-week job.

“It seemed excessively bully to beryllium true,” helium wrote. “It was. My year, 1980, was viewed past and inactive arsenic the worst twelvemonth successful the show’s history, which is nary tiny accomplishment erstwhile you deliberation of immoderate of the different years.”

In a 2016 interview, Mr. McGrath said his disappointment with the mode his screenplay for “Born Yesterday” was handled changed the absorption of his career.

“I retrieve thinking, well, if I don’t privation to walk the remainder of my beingness doing this, meaning watching idiosyncratic other muck up what I did, there’s lone 1 mode astir that,” helium said. “I person to go a director.”

Mr. McGrath, who lived successful Manhattan, married Jane Read Martin successful 1995. She survives him, arsenic bash a son, Henry; a sister, Mary McGrath Abrams; and a brother, Alexander.