Writer, actor, director Peter Masterson dies

Peter Masterson spun a decades-spanning career as a writer, actor and director, appearing in films such as “The Exorcist” and “The Stepford Wives,” but the Houston native’s best known work came in the 1970s when he turned a regional story about a famed bordello in La Grange into a hit Broadway show that became a feature film.

Even if the Houston native’s far flung career is most defined by “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” Masterson’s career was a remarkable one that moved fluidly from film to theater and back and forth again, acting and directing, both in film and on stage.

Masterson died Wednesday at his home in Kinderhook, N.Y., after a fall; he suffered from Parkinson’s. The Houston native was 84.

Long before Masterson helped transform the story of La Grange’s famed Chicken Ranch into an award-winning musical, he started his career in entertainment on screen. He earned a few small film and TV roles before appearing in the classic “In the Heat of the Night” in 1967. He was quite visible in the ’70s with a prominent role in “The Exorcist,” as a clinic director, and “The Stepford Wives” in a lead role as Cliff Eberhart. His daughter, actress Mary Stuart Masterson, made her first credited appearance in that film at age 9.

She called him “the best father imaginable and a real inspiration to me creatively, and in every way.”

Born Carlos Bee Masterson Jr. in 1934 at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Houston, he grew up in Angleton, where his father was an elected official. Masterson studied history at Rice University, and moved to New York City in the ’50s to study acting, and started landing smaller roles in the mid-’60s before finding his way into bigger and better-known films in the ’70s.

While Masterson was appearing in those storied ’70s films, he was also developing a project closer to his hometown. He spent two years writing a story based on the famed Chicken Ranch in La Grange, a brothel that operated for decades before being exposed by the iconic Houston newsman Marvin Zindler in 1973.

Masterson and the great Texas writer Larry L. King wrote the book for the musical, and Masterson directed it with fellow Houstonian Tommy Tune, both men directing on Broadway for the first time, though both had performed in Broadway productions.

“We learned a lot on that show,” Tune told the Chronicle last year. “We both knew our way around the theater, but neither of us had really run a show of that size. It was terrifying and it was thrilling.”

Masterson’s wife, Carlin Glynn, starred in the show and won a Tony Award for lead actress. An Ohio native, Glynn grew up in Houston and graduated from Lamar High School. She and Masterson both apprenticed at the Alley Theatre. The two were married 58 years.

“Whorehouse” quickly became a hit. Masterson and Tune won a Drama Desk award for direction, and he shared Tony nominations for best book with King, and best direction with King for the show, which ran for more than 1,500 performances and was the basis for a 1982 film starring Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds. Masterson was originally tapped to direct the film, but was replaced, which allowed him to work on another enduring story.

Though Masterson remained based in New York for decades, he would often return to Texas in his work. In 1985, he directed the film “The Trip to Bountiful,” which was adapted from a play by a frequent collaborator, the late Horton Foote. Masterson’s involvement in the film came out of his work at an actor’s studio at Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute.

“This was just after the ‘Whorehose’ movie debacle,” Masterson told the Chronicle. “Redford suggested that this might be the time to try to get a small, independent film launched. I thought of ‘Bountiful’ And then things started clicking into place.

Masterson earned a best director nomination from the Independent Spirit Awards, and the film’s star, Geraldine Page, won an Oscar for her work.

“He was about process, not results,” Mary Stuart Masterson said. “He was as kind and patient on the set as he was a father.”

She also recalled his lifelong affinity for sailing. “In a sailboat on the racecourse, he had the mouth of, well, a sailor.”

Masterson returned to Texas for the 1988 film “Full Moon in Blue Water,” which starred Gene Hackman and Teri Garr. He directed several more films over the years, including another Foote adaptation in 1996, “Lily Dale,” in which he directed his daughter.

“When he directed me in ‘Lily Dale,’ he was so hands off and professional,” she said. “Just a real gentleman. But it was odd. He seemed distant. When I asked him about it, he said, ‘You’re a movie star. I’m treating you like a movie star.’ I said, ‘Well, don’t!’ And then he gave me a hug. Which was all I needed.

“He was a man of few words, but every one of them a gem.”

Masterson is survived by his his wife, Carlin Glynn Masterson; his children, Alexandra Masterson, Mary Stuart Masterson and Peter Carlos Bee Masterson; and six grandchildren.

A private funeral will be held in New York next month.

andrew.dansby@chron.com