Richard Lewis dies at age 76
File: Richard Lewis at the Hollywood Improv on March 5, 2008 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Schwartz/WireImage)
LOS ANGELES - Richard Lewis, a beloved stand-up comedian well known for his role in Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and overall stream-of-consciousness diatribes, has died. He was 76.
Lewis' publicist, Jeff Abraham, said Lewis died at his home in Los Angeles on Tuesday night after suffering a heart attack.
Lewis revealed he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease last year in April and most recently appeared in Season 12 of "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
At the time, Lewis said that he was in the middle of a comedy tour three and a half years ago, and at a certain point, he thought to himself, "You know, I’m at the top of my game. After 50 years almost, I'm just gonna call it quits."
He said he "felt great about it," but after he made that decision, "s--- hit the fan."
A regular performer in clubs and on late-night TV for decades, Lewis also played Marty Gold, the romantic co-lead opposite Jamie Lee Curtis, in the ABC series "Anything But Love" and the reliably neurotic Prince John in "Mel Brooks’ Robin Hood: Men In Tights." He re-introduced himself to a new generation opposite Larry David in HBO’s "Curb Your Enthusiasm," kvetching regularly.
"I'm paranoid about everything in my life. Even at home. On my stationary bike, I have a rear-view mirror, which I'm not thrilled about," he once joked onstage. To Jimmy Kimmel he said: "This morning, I tried to go to bed. I couldn't sleep. I counted sheep but I only had six of them and they all had hip replacements."
Comedy Central named Lewis one of the top 50 stand-up comedians of all time and he earned a berth in GQ magazine’s list of the "20th Century’s Most Influential Humorists." He lent his humor for charity causes, including Comic Relief and Comedy Gives Back.
The Associated Press contributed to this story. It was reported from Los Angeles.