John Masius, Writer and Producer on ‘St. Elsewhere,’ ‘Touched by an Angel’ and ‘Providence,’ Dies at 75

John Masius, Writer and Producer on ‘St. Elsewhere,’ ‘Touched by an Angel’ and ‘Providence,’ Dies at 75

John Masius, the writer and producer who won two Emmys for his work on St. Elsewhere and created the uplifting network dramas Touched by an Angel and Providence, has died. He was 75.

Masius died Saturday at his home in Los Angeles after a nine-month decline from ALS, his ex-wife, actress Ellen Bry, announced. She played nurse Shirley Daniels on St. Elsewhere.

Masius, who started out in the early 1980s on the CBS drama The White Shadow, also created the 2009-11 TNT medical show Hawthorne, starring Jada Pinkett Smith and Michael Vartan, and he also wrote and/or produced for NBC’s L.A. Law and Showtime’s Dead Like Me during his long career.

With frequent collaborator Mark Tinker, Masius developed NBC’s St. Elsewhere, set at a fictional Boston hospital. He wrote and produced for the show during entire six-season run (1982-87), receiving writing Emmys in 1984 and ’86 amid 14 nominations for his work there.

The spiritual Touched by an Angel, starring Roma Downey and Della Reese, lasted nine seasons (1994-2003) on CBS, and the medical show Providence, starring Melina Kanakaredes and Mike Farrell, ran for five (1999-2002). Both series were bathed in warmth and heart.

Masius was born in Manhattan on July 30, 1950, and raised in Scarsdale, New York. After graduating from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, he moved to Los Angeles and earned a master’s degree from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.

Masius was working as a waiter at a cafe on Venice Beach when a chance meeting with producer Bruce Paltrow led him to becoming a production assistant on Paltrow’s The White Shadow, starring Ken Howard.

He graduated to writer and coordinating producer on the series and in 1981 shared an Emmy nom for outstanding drama series with Paltrow and Tinker.

After The White Shadow ended after three seasons, he, Paltrow and Tinker moved to St. Elsewhere, another product of MTM Enterprises, then led by Grant Tinker (Mark Tinker’s father).

Masius also developed NBC’s 1990-91 adaptation of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and wrote for CBS’ Brooklyn Bridge, created by Gary David Goldberg, in 1991-92.

You might remember his production company’s title card.

Survivors include his children, Hannah, Max and Sam. He and Bry were married from 1986 until their 1999 divorce.

Masius also won Humanitas and WGA prizes and a Peabody Award, but he “never measured success by trophies,” Bry said. “What mattered most to him was whether his stories touched people, whether they gave comfort, sparked laughter or inspired compassion.”