PUBLISHER – EDITOR

Michael von Grace

After graduate school, Michael joined the William Morris Agency as an assistant, and later was assigned to work for Elvis Presley’s manager Colonel Parker as part of Elvis Presley Promotion first at MGM and then Paramount.

He then left Parker and worked for McCann Erickson Advertising before joining MSEI Public Relations, later ICPR, assigned to accounts including KLM, Whirlpool, A&M Records, and Paramount.

During this period he was the Hollywood correspondent for COMBAT, the French daily newspaper established by Albert Camus.

This experience gave him a strong background in marketing, promotion, and public relations but his real interest was in writing and producing.

Michael began producing in the theatre and is part of the team (producer and writer) that created the internationally performed award-winning musical SNOOPY based on Peanuts by Charles M. Schultz.
Snoopy continues to be one of the most produced shows worldwide with over 1200 productions including long runs in New York, Chicago, Sydney, San Francisco, and London’s West End.
Snoopy ran for over 500 performances at the Duchess Theatre, received three Laurence Olivier nominations including Best Musical, and then toured the UK & Ireland for 56 weeks.
The musical has just been reimagined as THE WORLD ACCORDING TO SNOOPY, winning the Broadway World Best New Musical, and Best Musical awards with a national tour set for next year.
He also produced P.S. YOUR CAT IS DEAD by Pulitzer Prize-winning author James Kirkwood starring Sal Mineo and Robert Foxworth. His one-man play, JFK – THE MAN BEHIND THE MYTH, was developed for HBO and produced theatrically.
Michael began writing screenplays, selling his second to Universal. He then went on to write for the nighttime series PAPER DOLLS and KNOTTS LANDING. Securing a place on the hit series LOVE BOAT, he wrote numerous episodes including five two-hour specials starring Oscar and Emmy winners and nominees, featuring major Hollywood stars – Lana Turner, Kathy Bates, Claire Trevor, Anne Baxter, George Kennedy, Cloris Leachman, and Tim Robbins.
He has written movies for TV, including the thriller LADY KILLER starring Emmy and Tony winner Judith Light, various pilots, and developed screenplays for Kevin Costner and John Travolta.
He also developed screenplays for such major award-winning directors as Nick Meyer, Tony Richardson, and J. Lee Thompson.
He has just finished a new musical: THAT’S TOO BROADWAY with actor/composer/lyricist Tom Lowe, who starred in the London West End productions of Les Misérables and Cats. They are also developing another musical, MS ST. LOUIS, based on the ill-fated voyage from Germany to Cuba in 1939 caring German Jewish refugees.
He has had strong interest in maritime history since his youth. In 2008, he established www.cruiselinehistory.com aka Cruising The Past and The Past and Now. He has written over 1600 posts on travel and social history. He is a steamship and cruise historian, focusing on the 1930s through the 1970s.
He received his BA from San Francisco State University in History and Theatre Arts, attended USC and the Pasadena Playhouse, and did graduate work at Nottingham University and the American University Beirut.
He was a member of the San Francisco State University Foundation for five years and is featured on the university website as a prominent alumnus. He’s a member of the Writers Guild of America, Dramatist Guild, and the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.

Contact Michael Grace at mlpgrace@gmail.com