Actor James Michael Tyler, pictured on the Central Perk pop-up celebrating the twentieth anniversary of Mates in September 2014 in New York Metropolis, has died at age 59.
Paul Zimmerman/Getty Photographs
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Paul Zimmerman/Getty Photographs
Actor James Michael Tyler, pictured on the Central Perk pop-up celebrating the twentieth anniversary of Mates in September 2014 in New York Metropolis, has died at age 59.
Paul Zimmerman/Getty Photographs
James Michael Tyler, the actor greatest identified for enjoying the recurring character Gunther on Mates, has died at age 59 of prostate most cancers.
He died at his dwelling in Los Angeles on Sunday morning, his supervisor Toni Benson confirmed to NPR.
“The world knew him as Gunther (the seventh “Buddy”),” Benson mentioned in a press release, “however Michael’s family members knew him as an actor, musician, cancer-awareness advocate, and loving husband. Michael beloved reside music, cheering on his Clemson Tigers, and would usually discover himself in enjoyable and unplanned adventures. If you happen to met him when you made a good friend for all times.”
Tyler was first solid on the hit present as a background actor however went on to turn out to be the recurring character with probably the most appearances: Gunther, a shy and eccentric barista who took lots of punches from the principle characters and had an unrequited love for Rachel (Jennifer Aniston).
The character had “a great soul, a great coronary heart deep down, for everybody besides Ross [David Schwimmer],” Tyler said in 2019.
Tyler was an precise barista at a Los Angeles espresso store on the time he was solid in 1994. He did not have a line of dialogue for his first 33 appearances on the present, in line with The Associated Press. By the tip of the sequence, he’d appeared in 150 of the present’s 236 episodes.
Tyler additionally acted on Scrubs, Simply Shoot Me!, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and on 5 episodes of the present Trendy Music, amongst different exhibits.
He was recognized with superior prostate most cancers in 2018, Benson mentioned, however continued to carry out whereas present process remedy. He starred in two quick movies: The Gesture and the Phrase and Processing, each launched in 2020.
Tyler is survived by his spouse, Jennifer Carno.
