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Award-winning playwright Neil Simon died early Sunday, according to news reports. He was 91.
The comedic genius behind “The Odd Couple,” and the “Brighton Beach” series died at Manhattan’s New York Presbyterian Hospital, suffering from complications from a bout of pneumonia, according to the Associated Press.
The Pulitzer Prize, Tony, and Kennedy Center award winner, who was the author of 60 plays and movies and a number of books, was born in the Bronx on July 4, 1927.
An AP report described him as “American theater’s most successful and prolific playwrights” in the second half of the 20th century, who often chronicled middle-class issues and fears.
He was remembered on and off Broadway, with fans, associates and industry luminaries issuing condolences via Twitter:
The final curtain has fallen for one of the gods of Broadway. Multiple #TonyAwards-winning playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and hitmaker Neil Simon has died at 91. Rest in peace. The @nytimes obit: https://t.co/XVgPLlEq9K pic.twitter.com/pZTtzYg0dU
— The Tony Awards (@TheTonyAwards) August 26, 2018
Neil Simon - gone! A loss 4 the entire entertainment industry.
— Harvey Fierstein (@HarveyFierstein) August 26, 2018
He could write a joke that would make you laugh, define the character, the situation, and even the world's problems. First time I met him he looked at me and said, "Where the hell did they find you?" What a gent.
“There’s no more money anyone can pay me that I need. There are no awards they can give me that I haven’t won. I have no reason to write another play except that I am alive and I like to do it”-Neil Simon #RIP GIANT of the American Theatre #ThanksForTheLaughs pic.twitter.com/NZIVGPLdst
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) August 26, 2018
Neil Simon, Broadway’s long-reigning king of comedy, dies at 91 https://t.co/uI1bXsKkEF
— Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) August 26, 2018
Watch a clip of “The Odd Couple”:
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