Legendary comedian and Larry Sanders Show star Garry Shandling has died at age 66.
Shandling passed away on Thursday (March 24) at a Los Angeles area hospital, his spokesperson confirmed to Digital Spy.
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Initial reports indicate that Shandling suffered a massive heart attack.
In his 40-year career, Shandling influenced generations of comedians through his stand-up and Emmy-winning television work.
Having started his career as a writer on sitcoms Welcome Back, Kotter and Three's Company, he became a rising star of the LA comedy scene by the late '70s.
Shandling was a favourite of US comedy tastemaker Johnny Carson, ultimately becoming a frequent fill-in host for Carson on The Tonight Show.
His first TV sitcom It's Garry Shandling's Show broke conventions of the genre – with its star often stopping scenes to speak directly to camera and comment on the action.
Pioneering as it was, it would be his send-up of US talkshows on HBO's The Larry Sanders Show that would enshrine Shandling as a TV icon.
The series about the quirky staff of a failing chatshow earned 56 Emmy nominations from 1992 to 1998 – and launched the careers of Janeane Garofalo, Jeremy Piven, Sarah Silverman, Bob Odenkirk and Mary Lynn Rajskub.
(Garry Shandling, Jeffrey Tambor and Rip Torn at Larry Sanders Show reunion)
In recent years, Shandling has remained an enduring screen presence as the manipulative Senator Stern in the Marvel movies.
Shandling never married, but had a long-term romance with model Linda Doucett from the late-'80s into the mid-'90s.
Justin is a freelance entertainment journalist and writer. He first joined Digital Spy as a freelance entertainment reporter in 2010 and also worked as a sub-editor for the brand, serving as Night News Editor from 2016 to 2024. Over more than a decade, Justin has covered numerous major entertainment events from the US and has interviewed a wide-ranging group of public figures, from comedian Steve Coogan to icons from the Star Trek universe, cast members from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reality stars from numerous Real Housewives cities and the Below Deck franchise. Justin has also been on the ground to cover major pop culture events like the Star Wars Celebration and the D23 Expo. He's written for titles across the Hearst network, plus the likes of CBR and Us Weekly.
