Warren Michael Manzi (July 1, 1955 – February 11, 2016) was an American playwright and actor, who was best known for the play Perfect Crime, the longest running play in New York City's history.
Early Life
Manzi was born in Manchester, New Hampshire to a single mother of Italian descent. His family later moved to Lawrence, Massachusetts, where he attended Holy Rosary School and Central Catholic High School. He graduated from the College of the Holy Cross and obtained a master's degree from the Yale School of Drama.
Career
Manzi wrote Perfect Crime in 1980 at age 25, while an understudy for a role in Amadeus on Broadway. Early reviews of Perfect Crime described it as confusing, and Manzi continually rewrote the play throughout the rest of his life. Perfect Crime opened in New York City on April 18, 1987 and was performed over 11,800 times throughout Manzi's lifetime, becoming the longest running play in city theatre history. Manzi also wrote One for the Money and The Queen of the Parting Shot.
As an actor, Manzi appeared in the films The Manhattan Project (1986) and Nuts (1987).
He was married to Ellen Margaret Michelin from 1995 to 1996, when she died of kidney failure.
Manzi died of pneumonia aged 60 in 2016, in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
References
- ^ Marquard, Bryan (February 17, 2016). "Warren Manzi, at 60; wrote N.Y.'s longest-running play". Boston Globe. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
- "Warren Manzi". Concord Theatricals. Retrieved 2024-12-18.
- ^ Fox, Margalit (February 14, 2016). "Warren Manzi, Whose 'Perfect Crime' Is New York's Longest-Running Play, Dies at 60". New York Times. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
External links
- Warren Manzi at IMDb
- Warren Manzi at the Internet Broadway Database
- Warren Manzi at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
- 1955 births
- 2016 deaths
- 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
- Writers from Manchester, New Hampshire
- College of the Holy Cross alumni
- David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni
- 20th-century American male actors
- American male film actors
- Deaths from pneumonia in Massachusetts
- American writers of Italian descent
- Writers from Lawrence, Massachusetts
- Male actors from Manchester, New Hampshire