Josh Grisetti, the beloved Broadway actor and educator known for his role in the final season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, has died by suicide at the age of 44. His friend and former Something Rotten! Co-star Rob McClure announced the news in an emotional Instagram post, writing: “It is with a shattered heart that I share that the brilliant Josh Grisetti took his own life on Friday. I’m not ready to even attempt to understand.” Grisetti’s agent, Rick Ferrari, also confirmed the death, telling Entertainment Weekly he was “absolutely devastated”.
The actor is best known for playing Ralph Emerson, a comedy staff writer at “The Gordon Ford Show,” in the fifth and final season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. On Broadway, he originated the role of Marty Kaufman in It Shoulda Been You in 2015, earning the Clarence Derwent Award for Most Promising Male Actor, and later starred as Nigel Bottom in Something Rotten! He also appeared in the ABC sitcom The Knights of Prosperity alongside Donal Logue and Sofia Vergara.
Grisetti had recently stepped away from directing a production of Legally Blonde: The Musical at the Trentino Music Festival, posting on Instagram just days before his death that the cast’s support made him cry: “little gestures go a long way when your heart is hurting”. In recent years, he had devoted himself to higher education, serving as a tenured professor and head of the BFA Musical Theatre program at California State University, Fullerton.
Grisetti is survived by his wife, Mackenzie Grisetti. McClure, who served as best man at his wedding, ended his tribute: “Just a cataclysmic loss. Communities around the world will never be the same without him”. The actor was 44 years old.
