Tony award-winning playwright, Terrence McNally, died Tuesday due to coronavirus complications. He was 81.
He dies in a hospital in Sarasota, Florida, according to his publicist, Matt Polk.
Pols said, McNally was a lung cancer survivor and had the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Last year, McNally received the Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre.
He won one Tony Award for writing the books for the musicals “Ragtime” in 1998 and another for “Kiss of the Spider Woman” in 1993.
He also won two more for his plays “Love! Valour! Compassion!” and “Master Class.”
McNally was also known for other works such as the musicals “Anastasia” and “The Full Monty,” and “Mothers and Sons,” which is a play about a mother whose son died of AIDS, per the Playbill.com.
He was married to Tom Kirdahy, Broadway producer. He was openly gay and often wrote about the lives of gay men in his plays.
Many actors paid tribute to the loss on Twitter.
George Takei tweeted, “Terrence McNally was a legend among legends on Broadway. If you are an actor, there’s a good chance you have performed one of his works. If not, you surely will in your career, he was that prolific and gifted.”
Mentioning McNally in his tweet, actor Mark Hamill wrote, “A lot of people stop learning in life and that’s their tragedy.” “Terrence McNally, one of the most brilliant and prolific playwrights… EVER,” he added.
