Tony-winning Broadway actor Michael McGrath died September 14 at his home in Bloomfield, New Jersey. He was 65 years old. The news was confirmed by Broadway press agent Lisa Goldberg.
McGrath was one of the Main Stem's more prolific comedic character actors, appearing in 14 shows over a career of more than three decades. He made his Broadway debut in the ensemble of My Favorite Year in 1992, and went on to appear in The Goodbye Girl, Swinging On a Star, Little Me, Wonderful Town, Spamalot, Is He Dead?, Memphis, Born Yesterday, Nice Work if You Can Get It, On the Twentieth Century, She Loves Me, Tootsie, and, most recently, Plaza Suite.
He received his first Tony Award nomination in 2005, for his supporting performance in Spamalot. He would receive a second nomination and win in the same category in 2012, for his performance as gin bootlegger Cookie McGee in Nice Work If You Can Get It.
But his career extended well beyond Broadway. McGrath spent much of the beginning of his career satirizing the Main Stem in Forbidden Broadway, appearing in at least three of its iterations between 1988 and 1996. He was a favorite of New York City Center Encores!, starring in their productions of Du Barry Was a Lady, The Boys From Syracuse, and Follies, the latter as traveling salesman Buddy Plummer. He also enjoyed a healthy on-screen career, appearing in such projects as Madam Secretary, Between the Lions, and The Interpreter. Along with his Tony Award, McGrath was a three-time Drama Desk Award nominee, an Outer Critics Circle nominee, and a Theatre World Award winner.
Michael McGrath was born September 25, 1957, in Worcester, Massachusetts. He met his wife of 30 years, fellow actor Toni DiBuono, early in his career after meeting co-starring in a Boston run of Forbidden Broadway. Friends describe him as a Red Sox fanatic and bourbon connoisseur, a "devoted husband and father and friend to anyone who met him."
He is survived by DiBuono and their daughter, actor Katie Claire McGrath.
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