Thomas Meehan was a writer and producer best known for writing the books for three of the most successful Broadway musicals of the past 40 years — Annie, The Producers and Hairspray.

He won an Emmy Award in 1970 for outstanding writing achievement in comedy, variety or music for Annie, the Women in the Life of a Man. He was nominated twice more for his work as a writer on That Was the Week That Was.

Meehan also wrote the books for the musicals I Remember Mama, Bombay Dreams, Young Frankenstein, Elf and Rocky, among others.

Additionally, he wrote for the series When Things Were Rotten, Great Performances, The Wonderful World of Disney and Spaceballs: The Animated Series, as well as the films To Be or Not to Be and Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs.

Meehan died August 22, 2017, in New York City. He was 88.