George Furth, an actor and Tony Award-winning playwright who wrote the book for the landmark 1970 Broadway musical "Company" and also wrote the 1971 play "Twigs," died Monday. He was 75.

Mr. Furth died at a Santa Monica, Calif., hosptital, according to Dennis Aspland, his agent, who said Mr. Furth had been healthy as recently as a week ago. He did not know the cause of death.

Mr. Furth won both a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for best book of a musical for "Company," which ran on Broadway from 1970 to 1972 with Dean Jones as the central character.

"Company," with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, is the story of a young bachelor in Manhattan who is surrounded by married couples, all of whom have different attitudes about him being single.

Mr. Furth also wrote the book, and Mr. Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics, for "Merrily We Roll Along," the 1981 musical based on the George S. Kaufman-Moss Hart play.

Mr. Furth had a long career as a character actor, appearing in more than 85 films and TV show episodes from the early '60s to the late '90s.

He may be remembered best for his role in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." He played Woodcock, the devoted railroad clerk who refuses to open the train car containing the safe for the outlaws.

Mr. Furth was born George Schweinfurth on Dec. 14, 1932, in Chicago. He graduated from Northwestern University with a bachelor's degree in speech in 1954 and received a master of fine arts degree from Columbia University in 1956.