by JOHN MAZOR
An elderly author died in a blaze at her Upper East Side apartment yesterday morning.
The second-floor apartment of Marilyn Kaytor, 79, went up in flames just before 7 a.m., the FDNY said.
"I went banging on the door screaming 'Fire!' " said John McNicholas, 63, a doorman who works across from the East 79th Street building.
"I went pressing all the buttons. I wish I could have done more. I feel so bad for the old lady. I just wish I could have done more to save a person's life."
Sixty firefighters responded to the blaze in the converted townhouse and brought the fire under control within 45 minutes.
In 1975, Kaytor penned "21: The Life and Times of New York's Favorite Club" about the swanky hotspot and had two bylines in the New York Times in the early 1980s.
Neighbors said she was an extremely private woman who kept to herself and was rarely seen around the neighborhood.
"I thought she moved out. I hadn't seen her in so long," said neighbor Joey Trampush, 30, a graduate student.
The FDNY said the cause of the blaze was under investigation.
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