James Michael Tyler, who played Gunther on Friends, has died at the age fo 59 following a battle with prostate cancer.
According to TMZ, Tyler passed away Sunday (October 24th) at his home in Los Angeles.
“The world knew him as Gunther (the seventh “Friend”), from the hit series Friends, but Michael’s loved ones knew him as an actor, musician, cancer-awareness advocate, and loving husband,” his family said in a statement.
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Tyler appeared on over one hundred episodes of Friends as well as on the recent reunion special. On the show he played Gunther, the manager of the coffee shop Central Perk. His character famously has a crush on Jennifer Aniston’s Rachel, who works as a waitress at Central Perk, but his feelings are not reciprocated. As such, Gunther frequently antagonizes Rachel’s boyfriends, including David Schwimmer’s Ross.
During his decades-long acting career, Tyler also made cameo appearances on TV shows like Just Shoot Me, Scrubs, and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.
In July 2021, Tyler announced that he had been battling stage 4 prostate cancer since 2018. He encouraged men to get a PSA screening test, saying in a video message at the time, “I can tell you, you do not want to go through what I’ve had to go through the past two-and-a-half years… I wish I’d gone in earlier. It’s nobody’s fault, but yeah, if you want to stick around, get tested.”
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