Patton Oswalt Kept the True Crime Books That 'Really Influenced' Late Wife Michelle for Their Daughter Alice, 15 (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Patton Oswalt with his daughter Alice.Photo:Frazer Harrison/Getty

Alice Oswalt, Patton Oswalt attend Apple Original Series Ted Lasso Season 3 Red Carpet Premiere Event at Westwood Village Theater on March 07, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.

Frazer Harrison/Getty

Patton Oswaltis keeping the memory of his late wife alive for his daughter.

On Thursday, Feb. 20 at the Los Angeles premiere ofSuits LA,the actor and comedian, 56, opened up to PEOPLE exclusively about how he saved all the books that inspired his late wife, true crime writer Michelle McNamara, for their 15-year-old daughterAlice.

“I saved all the books that really influenced Michelle for her to read,” he shares with PEOPLE. “A lot of authors that really landed with her, and one of them was Truman Capote’sIn Cold Blood,” which she read and loved."

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Patton Oswalt.Todd Williamson/NBC

SUITS LA – Suits LA Premiere Celebration Pictured: Patton Oswalt

Todd Williamson/NBC

Oswalt wed his late wife in 2005 and welcomed a daughter four years later. McNamaradiedsuddenly in her sleep in April 2016 at age 46 from a combination of prescription medications and an undiagnosed heart condition. Oswalt has since remarried, tying the knot withMeredith Salengerin November 2017.

“We just were very, very honest about, ‘Here’s how I’m feeling,’ " the father of one told PEOPLE exclusively leading up toFather’s Dayon how he and Alice dealt with McNamara’s death.

Patton Oswalt with his daughter Alice.Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty

Alice Oswalt and Patton Oswalt at the Season 4 premiere of Hulu’s Only Murders In The Building at Paramount Studios on August 22, 2024 in Los Angeles, California

Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty

“We were in despair for days and months afterwards and then one night we were up and neither of us could sleep,” he recalled. “We were just talking and trying to get through it and my daughter just said, ‘When your mom dies, everythingyou do is a memory of her. You are a memory of her. You are her memory.'”

“It just came out of nowhere and I was like, ‘Oh my God,’ " Oswalt added. “I remember very specifically running and writing that down.”

source: people.com