Mel Gussow, 71; N.Y. Times Theater Critic, Writer, Author

Mel Gussow, a writer, critic and author on American theater and culture, who was a longtime staff member of the New York Times, has died. He was 71.

Gussow died Friday of cancer at a New York hospital, the newspaper reported Sunday.

He wrote more than 4,000 reviews and articles in his 35 years at the Times, as well as eight books, including a series of four on his conversations with playwrights Arthur Miller, Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter and Tom Stoppard.

Gussow had a knack for discovering talent in the bud, often by focusing much further off-Broadway than other writers. He is credited with bringing attention to such playwrights as Sam Shepard and David Mamet and to actors such as Kevin Kline, Meryl Streep and Sigourney Weaver.

“He was right on target on all the interesting playwrights I was hearing about,” playwright Edward Albee told the New York Times. “His care about exploring writers, especially young playwrights, was so useful.”

A native of New York City, Gussow earned a degree in American literature from Middlebury College and a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. After serving in the Army as a medic and then as editor of an Army newspaper in Germany, he returned to the United States and was hired by Newsweek.

He got his first big break in 1962, while working for Newsweek, when he was pressed into service writing the review of Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” when the magazine’s chief critic fell sick. According to the Times obituary, Gussow offered a rave review, noting that the play would be “igniting Broadway for years to come.” He continued a friendship with Albee and later wrote a biography of the playwright.

He is survived by his wife, Ann; a son, Ethan; and a brother, Peter, all of New York City.