Richard Lewis died<\/a> on Tuesday of a heart attack.<\/p>\nThe beloved comedian \u2014 who announced last April he had been diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s disease and was retiring from stand-up comedy \u2014 was 76 years old.<\/p>\n
The tragic news was confirmed this week by Lewis\u2019 publicist, who said in part of his statement:<\/p>\n
\u201cHis wife, Joyce Lapinsky, thanks everyone for all the love, friendship and support and asks for privacy at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/noscript>Larry David and Richard Lewis attend ATAS Presents An Evening With \u201cCurb Your Enthusiasm on November 9, 2005 in North Hollywood, California. (Photo by Stephen Shugerman\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nNow, meanwhile, one of the late actor\u2019s best friends and closest colleagues had paid tribute to Lewis.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard and I were born three days apart in the same hospital and for most of my life he\u2019s been like a brother to me,\u201d Larry David said on Thursday in a statement shared on the Curb Your Enthusiasm Instagram page. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe had that rare combination of being the funniest person and also the sweetest. But today he made me sob and for that I\u2019ll never forgive him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lewis played a fictionalized version of himself throughout the entirety of the aforementioned HBO series, most recently appearing on Season 12.<\/p>\nRichard Lewis with Larry David at an AFC Lifetime event in 2018. (Photo by Frazer Harrison\/Getty Images for AFI)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nElsewhere, other members of the Curb Your Enthusiasm cast have also spoken out about Richard Lewis. To wit:<\/p>\n
Cheryl Hines<\/strong> said: \u201cHe would take time to tell the people he loved what they meant to him. In between takes on Curb, he would tell me how special I was to him and how much he loved me. To be loved by Richard Lewis. A true gift. I love you Richard. You will be missed.\u201d<\/p>\nIn a statement to Entertainment Tonight, Susie Essman<\/strong>, who played Susie Green, the wife of David\u2019s best friend and manager on the show, called Lewis an \u201coriginal brilliant voice that cannot be replaced, adding:<\/p>\n\u201cI was lucky to call him a friend. He made me laugh and he was one of the most supportive and kindest people I\u2019ve ever known.\u201d<\/p>\n Richard Lewis with his wife Joyce Lapinsky at a HBO\u2019s Post Emmy Awards Reception. ((Photo by Emma McIntyre\/Getty Images))<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAdded Jaime Lee Curtis<\/strong>, who starred opposite Lewis on the sitcom Anything But Love:<\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019m weeping as I write this. Strange way of saying thank you to a sweet and funny man. Rest in laughter, Richard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ben Stiller<\/strong> wrote on social media: <\/p>\n\u201cI never met a kinder, more empathetic comedy genius. He was so funny. And deep. As a stand-up he was really iconic in the \u201970s. Cool, funny, self deprecating and hip. He was a friend to my parents and the whole Stiller family.\u201d<\/p>\nRichard Lewis on stage hosting an award show in 2015. ( (Photo by Ethan Miller\/Getty Images))<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWe\u2019ll give the final words here to Lewis, however.<\/p>\n
In 2021, upon returning to Curb Your Enthusiasm after various health struggles and multiple surgeries, he told Variety: <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve devoted my life to comedy and my sobriety the last almost 27 years. I\u2019m overwhelmed with joy right now. <\/p>\n
\u201cI never learned how to keep joy in my head for more than a minute, but I\u2019m breaking all records for my life today.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As previously and sadly reported, Richard Lewis died on Tuesday of a heart attack. The beloved comedian \u2014 who announced last April he had been diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s disease and was retiring from stand-up comedy \u2014 was 76 years old. The tragic news was confirmed this week by Lewis\u2019 publicist, who said in part of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":79405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-79404","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hollywood"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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