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'Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' actor Josh Grisetti died by self-inflicted gunshot wound, coroner says

Theresa Braine, New York Daily News on

Published in Entertainment News

NEW YORK — “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” actor and Broadway star Josh Grisetti died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Orange County Coroner’s Office said Thursday.

A “gunshot wound of the head” was the 44-year-old’s official cause of death, and the manner was classified as “Suicide – External,” according to a verification letter the coroner’s office shared with the Daily News.

He sustained severe head injuries, including several skull fractures — described as “multiple bilateral temporal calvarial fractures” — and a brain injury, according to an autopsy report obtained by People.

The reports marked the first official insight into how the actor and arts professor died by his own hand last Friday. But it left legions of brokenhearted fans, students, former students, friends and colleagues throughout the theater world wondering why.

Actors Rob McClure and Sierra Boggess, close friends and former co-stars of Grisetti’s on Broadway, each wrote emotional posts late Sunday announcing he had died by suicide. Just a few days earlier, Grisetti had left a production of “Legally Blonde” he’d been directing at the Trentino Music Festival in Fiera di Primiero, Italy, citing “personal reasons.”

Grisetti was born in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 1, 1981, and grew up in Rocky Mount, Virginia, according to an online obituary published Thursday. After graduating from North Carolina School of the Arts, he earned a BFA in Musical Theater at Boston Conservatory in 2004. He was nominated for numerous awards and won an Angeles Ovation award and a Theater World Award, according to the obituary.

“What his countless credits on stage and screen most earned him was a vast community of peers and fans who admired and adored him,” the obit read, citing his “unmatched wit that he wielded with the limber playfulness of an air dancer,” a penchant for being “fearlessly goofy,” and his talent as a “hysterically sublime intellectual.”

 

He was also known for playing Ralph Emerson in the final season of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”

Grisetti also penned a memoir, “God in My Head: The True Story of an Ex-Christian who Accidentally Met God,” recounting his 2009 near-death experience in a dentist’s chair after receiving an accidental overdose of painkiller during a procedure.

His family launched a GoFundMe campaign earlier this week to give those offering help an outlet for supporting Grisetti’s wife, real estate agent Mackenzie Grisetti, and other family members. The money will go toward his final arrangements and help cover travel costs for family members gathering to mourn him. Memorials and celebrations of life will be held in New York, Los Angeles and Virginia, according to his obit.

Any money left over will go to the Entertainment Community Fund, a nonprofit organization providing a mental health safety net for professional performing artists and entertainers. In addition to Mackenzie, Grisetti’s survivors include his parents, two sisters, three nephews and two “spoiled cats” named Albus and Severus.

“Our hearts are profoundly broken by the sudden passing of Josh Grisetti this past Friday at the age of 44,” the funding drive organizers said. “Josh was a luminous force across Broadway, television, film, and academia, leaving an indelible imprint on the global creative community. The extraordinary outpouring of love from Los Angeles, New York, Virginia, and beyond stands as a moving testament to the depth of his impact.”


©2026 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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