Dave McNary, the veteran film reporter who covered the industry for more than two decades at Variety and was friends with many of us on Deadline, died at age 69. His wife, Sharon McNary, a veteran journalist and KPCC-FM infrastructure correspondent, confirmed the news on Saturday morning.
McNary suffered a stroke on December 19 and was rushed to Huntington Hospital in Pasadena due to complications.
McNary began his long career at Variety in 1999, where he covered everything from guilds to various studios, including Warner Bros. Many of us at Deadline have had the opportunity to work side by side with Dave over the years, including Ted Johnson, Anthony D ‘Alessandro, Mike Fleming and Peter Bart, the longtime editor-in-chief of Variety, who hired McNary in 1999 .
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“Dave McNary summed up the passionate journalist,” said Bart. “He loved last-minute stories. And he was meticulously fair, for example, in covering the Writers Guild battles, trying to understand all sides of the issue. Even when people shouted at him, he responded with a patient smile and a calm reply. “
McNary has had a career of over 40 years in journalism, much of which he spent as a business reporter in the entertainment industry. He worked for UPI, Los Angeles Daily News, Pasadena Star-News and others before joining Variety at the end of 1999.
He was a prolific reporter who archived dozens of stories a week, mostly focusing on independent film, box office, production in Southern California, as well as SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, the Writers Guild of America, the Directors Guild of America and Producers Guild of America. He was known throughout the Hollywood guild community simply as “Dave” and it was recognized that he understood the inner workings of unions better than many guild officials.
McNary had a busy second comedy career. For three decades, he hosted a stand-up comedy showcase on Sundays at the famous Ice House in Pasadena, where he auditioned and booked several comics that followed careers in the industry. In the 1970s, he worked with the Groundlings and acting coach Gary Austin. He was part of a comedy troupe dubbed Procrastinators, who made appearances on “The Gong Show” making presentations such as the surf song “Wipeout” on belly bongos or “Rawhide” on wooden horses.
Born David Nathan McNary in Berkeley, California, he grew up in San Rafael and Woodland as the eldest of five children. During the high school years, the family lived in Barcelona, Spain, which made McNary fluent in Spanish. As a young man, he got involved with the Boy Scouts and reached the highest Scout post.
After returning to California, McNary wrote for his high school newspaper and went to UCLA. He graduated in history and also rose through the ranks to become editor of the Daily Bruin newspaper. He remained an enthusiastic supporter of Bruin and continued to speak at events for Daily Bruin alumni.
I can’t help saying the effect McNary has had on so many young reporters who have covered or still cover the industry today. I, like so many other young Variety reporters, had the great honor of learning how to cover the business with him when I started as an intern in 2008. That was the thing about Dave, no matter how busy he was covering the last issue with the guilds or posting great news about the development, he always had time to talk if it was who we should contact to confirm a story, or simply rejoice about his beloved San Francisco Giants winning a big playoff game.
He was known for asking the interns if they would like to be their one at the DGA awards and then laughing the next day with them about the duration of the event. It was not just his friends and colleagues who loved and appreciated Dave, but several publicists, agents, executives and talents who worked with him and came to appreciate how professional he was in what he was working on.