A producer and film director who helped bring The Chronicles of Narnia series to the big screen as well as writing a novel about a gay superhero has died at the age of 39.

Perry Moore produced all three Narnia films and also wrote an illustrated book to accompany the series opener, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He was found unconscious in the bathroom of his Manhattan home on Thursday and died later in hospital, according to police, who do not suspect foul play.

Moore, who worked for conservative film company Walden Media, dispatched an impassioned letter to the chief executive of the CS Lewis Company in 2001 seeking movie rights to the much-loved fantasy novels.

His 2007 book, Hero, won a Lambda Literary award best novel prize. In an interview on his website, its author said he wrote it because he had a "borderline-crazy belief in the power of literature to change the universe".

"Like most young people, I grew up feeling alienated and different – for very specific reasons in my case – in a place that didn't value differences," he said. Moore also stated on the site that a big screen adaptation is in the works, with comic book legend Stan Lee on board.

Moore's only directing effort was the 2008 drama Lake City, starring Sissy Spacek, Keith Carradine and Rebecca Romijn.