Michael White, a veteran British producer whose credits include The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Monty Python and the Holy Grail, has died. He was 80 years old.
Lyndall Hobbs, White’s former girlfriend, told Reuters that he died at his ex-wife Louise White’s home in Ojai, California on March 7. She said that he died from heart failure, eight weeks after he was told he needed open heart surgery.
“Michael had an appetite for life that was unmatched in my opinion,” Hobbs told Reuters. “A unique man who put on hundreds of shows and truly was a theatrical pioneer.
The Scotland-born White first produced plays on the West End, with credits like Annie, Oh! Calcutta and the stage version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
He soon went to work on films, including the film version of Rocky Horror, The Hound of the Baskervilles and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. In the ‘90s, he turned to television, producing The Comic Strip Presents… and The Glam Metal Detectives.
According to The Associated Press, the Society of West End will dim the lights in honor of White next week.