LOS ANGELES — Peter Scolari, a versatile character actor whose television roles included a yuppie producer on Newhart and a closeted dad on Girls and …
LOS ANGELES — Peter Scolari, a versatile character actor whose television roles included a yuppie producer on Newhart and a closeted dad on Girls and who was on Broadway with longtime friend Tom Hanks in Lucky Guy, has died. He was 66. Scolari died Friday morning in New York after fighting cancer for two years, according to Ellen Lubin Sanitsky, his manager. He first gained attention as the then-unknown Hanks’ co-star in the 1980-82 sitcom « Bosom Buddies, » in which their characters disguised themselves as women to live in affordable, females-only housing. The two actors went on to work together in projects including Hanks’ 1996 movie directorial debut That Thing You Do! and in 2013’s Lucky Guy, Nora Ephron’s play about newspaper columnist Mike McAlary. Scolari also performed on Broadway in Wicked, Hairspray and 2014’s Bronx Bombers, in which he played baseball’s Yogi Berra.
