Actor and stand up comedian Gilbert Gottfried has died at the age of 67. The American star died from recurrent ventricular tachycardia due to myotonic dystrophy type II, a disorder that affects the heart, according to his publicist.
His family paid tribute to him on Twitter, posting: "In addition to being the most iconic voice in comedy, Gilbert was a wonderful husband, brother, friend and father to his two young children. Although today is a sad day for all of us, please keep laughing as loud as possible in Gilbert’s honour."
Gottfried first came to national attention with frequent appearances on MTV in its early days. He had a brief stint in the cast of Saturday Night Live in the 1980s.
The star also did frequent voice work for children’s television and films, most famously playing the parrot Iago in Disney’s Aladdin. He was particularly fond of doing obscure and dated impressions for as long as he could milk them, including Groucho Marx, Bela Lugosi and Andrew “Dice” Clay.
Gottfried was especially beloved by his fellow comedians and performers.
“I am so sad to read about the passing of Gilbert Gottfried,” actor Marlee Matlin said on Twitter. “Funny, politically incorrect but a softie on the inside. We met many times; he even pranked me on a plane, replacing my interpreter.”
Seinfeld actor Jason Alexander tweeted that “Gilbert Gottfried made me laugh at times when laughter did not come easily. What a gift”. Gottfried was born in Brooklyn, the son of a hardware store owner and a stay-at-home mother.
He began doing amateur stand-up at the age of 15. “Gilbert’s brand of humour was brash, shocking and frequently offensive, but the man behind the jokes was anything but,” Gottfried’s friend and podcast co-host Frank Santopadre said in a statement.
He added that those who “were fortunate enough to share his orbit knew a person who was sweet, sensitive, surprisingly shy and filled with a childlike sense of playfulness and wonder”. Gottfried is survived by his wife Dara, sister Karen, 14-year-old daughter Lily and 12-year-old son Max.
