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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Actor Garry Shandling posed for photographers before the Jennifer Nicholson fashion show during Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in Culver City, Calif. in Oct. 2006. Shandling, who as an actor and comedian pioneered a pretend brand of self-focused docudrama with “The Larry Sanders Show,” died, today, of an undisclosed cause in Los Angeles. He was 66.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Actor Garry Shandling arrived at the April 2007 wrap party and DVD release for “The Larry Sanders Show” in Beverly Hills, Calif. Shandling, who as an actor and comedian pioneered a pretend brand of self-focused docudrama with “The Larry Sanders Show,” died, today, of an undisclosed cause in Los Angeles. He was 66.
LOS ANGELES » Garry Shandling, who as an actor and comedian pioneered a pretend brand of self-focused docudrama with “The Larry Sanders Show,” has died.
Los Angeles Police officer Tony Im said Shandling died today in Los Angeles of an undisclosed cause. He was 66.
Im said officers were dispatched to Shandling’s home today for a reported medical emergency. Shandling was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Im did not have any details on when the call was placed or what the nature of the emergency was. He said police will conduct a death investigation.
Coroner’s spokesman Ed Winter said his office did not yet have any details about Shandling’s death.
The Chicago-born Shandling moved from a short stint in the advertising business to comedy writing and standup.
Then in the 1980s he began to experiment with TV comedy with his first series, “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show,” a Showtime sitcom that called attention to its artificial nature with the actors routinely breaking the fourth wall.
In 1992, he created his comic masterpiece with “The Larry Sanders Show,” which starred him as an egomaniacal late-night TV host with an anxiety-ridden show-biz life behind the scenes.
AP television writer Frazier Moore in New York contributed to this story.
a very naturally funny guy, just looking at him made you laugh i remember one bit where he talked about people calling him a cross between Jimmy Carter and David Brenner. Pure comedic gold. He’ll be missed in the comedy industry.