Sarah Caplan, the Emmy Award-winning television producer behind such series as “Felicity,” “Lost,” and “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” died on April 30 at Dignitas in Zurich, three years after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 73 years old.
“In December, when it became clear that the treatment she was receiving was not working and that her disease was progressing faster than expected, she made the decision to end her life with dignity and grace in Switzerland,” her daughter Stella Stahl said in a statement. She asked me for help, and without hesitation she passed away peacefully on Thursday, April 30th, at Dignitas in Zurich, in a typical Sarah Caplan way.
Born in London, Caplan holds a BA in Philosophy from Bedford College, University of London, and an MA in Southeast Asian Studies from SOAS, University of London. She moved to Los Angeles in 1980 to pursue a career in film and television, where she joined Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz’s Bedford Falls, producers of “Thirty Something,” “Glory” and “Dangerous Beauty.”
She married author Jerry Stahl in 1984, and their daughter Stella was born in 1989. Stahl’s book “Permanent Midnight” was made into a film, with Caplan played by Elizabeth Hurley.
She was hired by director Steven Spielberg in 2000 to work on the TV series The Others, and went on to work for J. J. Abrams early in his career. She served as a line producer on Season 3 of Felicity and also produced the pilot for Abrams’ directorial debut, Alias. She produced the next four seasons of “Alias” and the pilot for “Lost,” for which she won an Emmy Award.
Caplan produced five seasons of Brothers & Sisters, working with former Abrams/Zwick collaborators, including Ken Olin.
Her other credits include the Emmy-nominated “Political Animals” and “Ray Donovan.” In 2015, Aline Brosh-McKenna and Rachel Bloom brought her on to produce the pilot for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and she went on to produce all series. She also served as co-executive producer of “The Morning Show.”
Caplan is survived by his daughter, Stella Stahl;
