{"id":1343,"date":"2023-09-15T09:42:07","date_gmt":"2023-09-15T09:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/2023\/09\/15\/spamalot-actor-was-65-the-hollywood-reporter\/"},"modified":"2023-09-15T09:42:07","modified_gmt":"2023-09-15T09:42:07","slug":"spamalot-actor-was-65-the-hollywood-reporter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/?p=1343","title":{"rendered":"Spamalot Actor Was 65 \u2013 The Hollywood Reporter"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tMichael McGrath, the veteran stage actor who won a Tony Award for his performance in the Broadway musical Nice Work If You Can Get It<\/em>, has died. He was 65.<\/p>\n

\n\tMcGrath\u2019s publicist confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter<\/em> that he died suddenly at his home in Bloomfield, New Jersey on Thursday. No cause of death has been determined. <\/p>\n

\n\tA regular in Broadway and off-Broadway musicals and musical comedy productions, McGrath had starring turns in Plaza Suite<\/em>, Tootsie<\/em>, Memphis<\/em>, Born Yesterday<\/em> and Wonderful Town<\/em>. He was also the first actor to play the role of Patsy, King Arthur\u2019s long-suffering sidekick, in Spamalot<\/em>, which also earned him a Tony nomination. <\/p>\n

\n\tMcGrath was born in Worcester, Massachusetts on Sept. 25, 1957. He graduated from St. Peter\u2019s High School in Worcester and then attended the Boston Conservatory, leaving after three months to pursue a career in acting. <\/p>\n

\n\tHe began his stage career in Worcester before moving to Boston and garnering attention following a three-year run in Gerard Alessandrini\u2019s musical comedy Forbidden Broadway<\/em> from 1985 to 1989. One of McGrath\u2019s co-stars in Forbidden Broadway<\/em> was the actress Toni DuBuono, whom he would go on to marry.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cForbidden Broadway<\/em> has always been one of the hardest shows I\u2019ve ever done,\u201d McGrath said in an interview about the production that proved his breakout. \u201cIt\u2019s like doing an opera every night. It was 24 songs a night.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMcGrath moved to New York and gained his first Broadway credit in 1992 as part of Joseph Dougherty\u2019s musical My Favorite Year<\/em>. During the 1990s, he had parts in The Goodbye Girl<\/em>, Swinging on a Star<\/em> and the revival of Neil Simon\u2019s Little Me<\/em> where he played one of the Buchsbaum brothers alongside Martin Short. McGrath\u2019s performance in Swinging on a Star<\/em> earned him his first Drama Desk nomination in 1996.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Michael<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>

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\t\t\t\t\tMichael McGrath, Faith Prince and Martin Short in Little Me<\/em> in 1998.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEverett Collection<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tHis first major Broadway role was in Wonderful Town<\/em>, playing Chick Clark from 2003 to 2005. By now an established stage talent, McGrath was cast in Spamalot<\/em>, Eric Idle\u2019s musical adaptation of Monty Python and the Holy Grail<\/em>. The high-profile production opened in Chicago in 2004, moving to Broadway the following year. McGrath originated the role of Patsy, King Arthur\u2019s coconut-clopping servant. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was an amazing time in my life to work with such people as Mike Nichols and Tim Curry, Hank Azaria, David Hyde Pierce,\u201d McGrath said in an interview in 2014 about working on Spamalot<\/em>. \u201cWhen the project was first presented to me, I thought, \u2018How the hell are they gonna do a musical version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail<\/em>? I just couldn\u2019t see it. Nonetheless, when I was told that Mike Nichols was directing it, I jumped at the chance to be involved.\u201d <\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"The<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>

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\t\t\t\t\tThe original cast of Spamalot<\/em>, from left Sara Ramirez, Christopher Sieber, Tim Curry, Eric Idle, Michael McGrath and Hank Azaria with creator Eric Idle. <\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPeter Kramer\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tMcGrath, who sang the iconic \u201cAlways Look on the Bright Side of Life\u201d in Spamalot<\/em>, starred in the production for two-and-a-half years and earned Tony and Drama Desk nominations for best featured actor in a musical in 2005.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2012, McGrath scored his one and only Tony award, as well as a Drama Desk prize, for playing Cookie McGee in the musical Nice Work If You Can Get It<\/em>. His other notable Broadway credits include originating the role of Mr. Simmons in Memphis<\/em> (2009), playing Ralph Kramden in the musical stage adaptation of the classic sitcom The Honeymooners<\/em> (2017) and playing Stan Fields in Tootsie<\/em> (2018).<\/p>\n

\n\tOutside of theater, McGrath was notably Martin Short\u2019s announcer and sidekick on The Martin Short Show<\/em>, the short-lived syndicated talk show that birthed the Jiminy Glick character. He also had minor roles in the feature films Changing Lanes<\/em> (2002) and The Interpreter<\/em> (2005).<\/p>\n

\n\tHe is survived by his wife of 30 years, actress Toni Di Buono, and daughter, actress Katie Claire McGrath.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

#Spamalot #Actor #Hollywood #Reporter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael McGrath, the veteran stage actor who won a Tony Award for his performance in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1905,1821,1822,1904],"class_list":["post-1343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-news","tag-actor","tag-hollywood","tag-reporter","tag-spamalot"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Michael-McGrath.jpeg",1024,576,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Michael-McGrath-150x150.jpeg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Michael-McGrath-300x169.jpeg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Michael-McGrath-768x432.jpeg",640,360,true],"large":["https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Michael-McGrath.jpeg",640,360,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Michael-McGrath.jpeg",1024,576,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Michael-McGrath.jpeg",1024,576,false],"chromenews-featured":["https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Michael-McGrath.jpeg",1024,576,false],"chromenews-large":["https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Michael-McGrath-825x575.jpeg",825,575,true],"chromenews-medium":["https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Michael-McGrath-590x410.jpeg",590,410,true],"arpw-thumbnail":["https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Michael-McGrath-50x50.jpeg",50,50,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/?author=1"},"category_info":"Movie News<\/a>","tag_info":"Movie News","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}