Nine-Time Tony-Winning Producer Liz McCann Dies at 90

Elizabeth I. McCann, who won nine Tony Awards for producing throughout her 60-year career in the theater, has died at the age of 90. She died on September 9 at Calvary Hospital following a bout with cancer, according to longtime associate and friend Kristen Luciani.

Born on March 29, 1931 on Manhattan’s West Side, McCann began her career in theater as a production assistant and manager with Proscenium Productions at the Cherry Lane Theatre in the 1950s. She completed a law degree at Fordham University, having previously graduated from Manhattanville College, where she acted in plays—one of her notable roles was Jo in Little Women. She later earned a Masters in English Literature at Columbia University, intending to become a drama teacher.

In 1967, McCann was hired by influential theater owner James Nederlander. Eventually, she and Nelle Nugent created the general management and production company McCann & Nugent. Their Tony-winning shows have included Dracula, The Elephant Man, Morning's at Seven, Amadeus and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. McCann and Nugent’s other Broadway productions included Night and Day, starring Maggie Smith, Piaf, Rose, starring Glenda Jackson and Jessica Tandy, Leader of the Pack, The Dresser, Mass Appeal, Good, The Glass Menagerie, starring Tandy and Amanda Plummer and the Royal Shakespeare Company’s All’s Well That Ends Well, Much Ado About Nothing and Cyrano De Bergerac, starring Derek Jacobi.

In partnership with other producers, McCann earned four additional Tony Awards for The Goat by Edward Albee, Copenhagen, A View from the Bridge and 2009 revival of Hair. She was also a producer of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, A Delicate Balance, Well, Equus, Passing Strange, Butley, My Fat Friend and Shakespeare for My Father, Nick & Nora, Orpheus Descending, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Indecent and Hangmen. Off-Broadway, she produced The Lady with the Clarinet and Painting Churches, both with Nugent.

As general managers, McCann and Nugent managed the Broadway productions of The Gin Game with Tandy and Hume Cronyn, Tintypes, Crimes of the Heart, ‘night Mother, Tango Argentino, The Robber Bridegroom, Otherwise Engaged and Comedy with Music. McCann served as Executive Producer of the Tony Awards for several years and was also General Manager of the Big Apple Circus.

Funeral arrangements are being made by Crestwood Funeral Home in Manhattan. A service will take place at St. Paul the Apostle on 60th Street and Columbus Avenue.