LOS ANGELES: James Michael Tyler, the actor who played Gunther on hit TV comedy Friends, recently succumbed to Advanced Prostate Cancer at age 59. According to Toni Benson, his manager, he was diagnosed with the ailment in 2018 and passed away in his Los Angeles residence.
“He was known to the world as Gunther (the seventh ‘Friend’), but those close to Michael knew him as a loving husband, musician, an actor and a staunch cancer-awareness advocate. Michael loved live music, hyping up his favourite sports team, and loved adventures,” Benson penned down in a tribute.
Tyler had made cameos in other beloved 90’s shows like Sabrina the Teenage Witch before getting his big break when cast as a secondary character in Friends in 1994. But as the years went by, he became the most reoccurring guest on the series as Gunther, the famous Central Perk barista in a one-sided love affair with Jennifer Aniston’s character Rachel.
Warner Bros Television, the show’s producers, mourned Tyler’s passing, calling him “a beloved actor and such an essential member of our Friends family.”
Once Friends aired its finale in 2004, Tyler went on to work in other hits like medical comedy Scrubs and Modern Music.
After his cancer diagnosis, Tyler starred in two short films and performed a spoken word tribute to “If You Knew”, a Stephen Kalich piece, to help raise awareness for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. He did all of this while undergoing treatment himself.
He left behind a wife named Jeniffer Carno.