Jeffrey Lane, Emmy‑Winning of Mad About You Dies
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- Jeffrey Lane died on May 20 in New York at age 71 after a lengthy illness.
- Jeffrey Lane earned three Primetime Emmy Awards, a shared Daytime Emmy for Ryan’s Hope, and received five Primetime Emmy nominations, three Writers Guild Awards, two Peabody Awards, and a Golden Globe nomination.
- Jeffrey Lane began his TV career in 1977 as a production assistant on Ryan’s Hope and joined its writing staff within a year, later writing for Lou Grant and becoming a story editor on Cagney & Lacey.
- Jeffrey Lane co‑produced the 1988 Tony Awards broadcast, which won Emmys for writing and outstanding special event.
- Jeffrey Lane wrote the book for the 2004 Broadway adaptation of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, earning Tony nominations for Best Book of a Musical and Best Musical.
- Jeffrey Lane and composer David Yazbek completed a new original musical, Whiz‑Bang!, about a teenage inventor, shortly before his death.
- Jeffrey Lane’s family asks for donations to World Central Kitchen and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS in lieu of flowers.
Why it matters: His passing deprives television and Broadway of a versatile storyteller whose award‑winning scripts shaped iconic sitcoms and stage productions, while his family’s call for donations directs support to World Central Kitchen and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, and the completed Whiz‑Bang! musical offers a fresh project for producers to develop.
