Gilbert Gottfried, the shrill-voiced standup comic and actor, passed away at the age of 67, his family announced on Tuesday.
“In addition to being the most iconic voice in comedy, Gilbert was a wonderful husband, brother, friend and father to his two young children,” the family’s statement reads.
Since the 1980s, Gottfried appeared in dozens of films and television shows, including a brief stint on Saturday Night Live. He was also a talented voice actor, well-known for his role as the parrot Iago in Disney’s “Aladdin.”
“Gottfried was a fiercely independent and intentionally bizarre comedian’s comedian, as likely to clear a room with anti-comedy as he was to kill it with his jokes,” wrote Andrew Dalton in The Associated Press.
Following the news of his death, fellow comedians and actors — including Jon Stewart, Tom Green, Bill Burr, Jennifer Tilly and many others — shared their condolences online:
Just three months ago, Gottfried shared a photo on social media with late comedians Bob Saget and Louie Anderson. Saget died on Jan. 9, while Anderson passed away on Jan. 21.
Gottfried died from recurrent ventricular tachycardia due to myotonic dystrophy type 2, a disorder that affects the heart, said his publicist and longtime friend Glenn Schwartz.
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