Writer of 'Annie' and 'Hairspray' Thomas Meehan dies at 88

CAIRO – 24 August 2017: Multiple Tony Award winning playwright Thomas Meehan passed away at the age of 88 on Tuesday, August 22. The author had been suffering from terminal cancer for several months, the LA Times reports, and passed away in his Manhattan home.

Meehan was best known for creating beloved plays such as 'Annie' and 'Hairspray', and also helped co-write Mel Brook's 1987 sci-fi parody 'Spaceballs'. Meehan was responsible for adapting the comic strip 'Little Orphan Annie' and transforming it into a hit Broadway play, which ran for over 2,300 performances and has been adapted into several feature films.

He also wrote the book for Broadway's 'The Producers', which was adapted twice; first in a 1967 film directed by Mel Brooks and starring Gene Wilder, and then remade to a 2005 movie starring Uma Thurman, Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane. Meehan's other work, ‘Hairspray,’ was adapted into a 2007 movie featuring big names such as John Travolta, Queen Latifa, Christopher Walken and Michelle Pfeiffer. It had previously been adapted in 1988 too.

‘Hamilton's’ creator Lin-Manuel Miranda was among those who paid respect on Twitter to one of Broadway's most successful writers;

RIP to Thomas Meehan, one of the best around.

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) August 22, 2017