NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Gilbert Gottfried was one of the most recognizable voices in show business before his death at age 67.
The esteemed performer — known for his raw, scorched voice and crude jokes — died just after 2:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday from Recurrent Ventricular Tachycardia due to Myotonic Dystrophy type II, his longtime friend and publicist Glenn Schwartz told Fox News Digital.
Gottfried was a fiercely independent and intentionally bizarre comedian’s comedian, as likely to clear a room with anti-comedy as he was to kill it with his jokes.
Here are five things to know about the late star:
The iconic comedian and “Aladdin” star, Gilbert Gottfried, died at 67 after a long illness.
(Jim Spellman/WireImage)
COMEDIAN AND ‘ALADDIN’ STAR GILBERT GOTTFRIED DEAD AT 67 AFTER ILLNESS
FAMILY MAN
“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 honor,” his family said in a statement shared to Twitter on Tuesday.
Gottfried is survived by his wife Dara, daughter Lily, 14, son Max, 12, sister Karen and nephew Graham.
He married his wife Dara in February 2007. Dara, 52, worked in the music industry, and was even an executive producer on her husband’s show, “Gilbert Gottfried: Dirty Jokes” in 2005.
According to the New York Times, the couple first met in the ’90s after the Grammy Awards. The couple opted to live a more private life and only shared a glimpse into their personal lives via social media. Dara has an Instagram account on which she shares a few pictures with her family.
In 2013, the couple went on “Celebrity Wife Swap,” in which the late Alan Thicke’s wife, Tanya Callau, traded places with Gottfried’s wife, Dara.
EARLY LIFE
Gottfried was born in Brooklyn, the son of a hardware store owner and a stay-at-home mom. He began doing amateur standup at age 15.
In Gottfried’s professional life, the star had a long career of success in the television industry.
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE — Season 6 Gallery — Pictured: Gilbert Gottfried.
(NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images )
However, initially, he thought he was getting his big break when he landed a spot on “Saturday Night Live” alongside Eddie Murphy in 1980. But he was given little to do on the show.
He later said a low point was playing the body in a sketch about a funeral. He would last only 12 episodes.
HOLLYWOOD INDUSTRY SUCCESS
Gottfried would find his own way, doing bits on MTV and as a both beloved and hated guest on talk shows.
In Gottfried’s professional life, the star had a long career of success in the television industry.
(Jim Spellman/WireImage)
Gottfried’s work in television soon led to roles in film. Most notable was his scene as business manager Sidney Bernstein in the hit sequel “Beverly Hills Cop II,” for which Gottfried was lauded for stealing the picture “with a single scene.”
GILBERT GOTTFRIED’S ‘ALADDIN’ CO-STARS REMEMBER ‘BELOVED’ LATE COMEDIAN: ‘OUR HEARTS ARE SHATTERED’
‘ALADDIN’ AND BEYOND
Gottfried also did frequent voice work for children’s television and movies, most famously playing the parrot Iago in Disney’s “Aladdin.”
Gottfried’s co-star in “Aladdin,” Linda Larkin, shared an image on Instagram on Tuesday remembering the late actor on behalf of herself and Gottfried’s other “Aladdin” co-stars, Scott Weigner and Jonathan Freeman.
“Our hearts are shattered at the loss of our beloved friend, collaborator, behind-the-scenes mischief maker, and most irreverent spirit, full of light and magic. Gilbert Gottfried, you were one of a kind,” she said.
Gilbert Gottfried’s “Aladdin” co-stars shared a sweet message to remember the actor on Tuesday.
(Photo by Jenny Anderson/WireImage)
“The world was lucky to have you, and so were we. Love Jonathan, Linda, and Scott,” she added, signing the statement from herself along with Weigner and Freeman.
Larkin voiced Princess Jasmine in the 1992 film while Weigner voiced Aladdin. Freeman starred as Jafar.
He had recurring voice roles on several spin-offs of “Aladdin,” as well as “Ren and Stimpy” and “The Fairly OddParents.”
In 2014, Gottfried co-starred on season 14 of “The Celebrity Apprentice” with “The Five’s” Geraldo Rivera.
During an interview with the “Today” show in 2015, Gottfried was joined by Rivera, in which they discussed their season on “The Celebrity Apprentice.”
“All kidding aside, I was honored to work with Geraldo because he’s a brilliant reporter and journalist. Don’t take my word for it, just ask Geraldo,” Gottfried said during the interview.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
Rivera shared his condolences to Gottfried in a tweet posted on Tuesday.
“Awful news about Gilbert Gottfried’s passing. Erica and I send our condolences to Dara his loving wife & best friend. Gilbert was the most iconic voice in commercials & movies like Aladdin. He survived Aflac’s lame cancellation & was a hilarious teammate on Celebrity Apprentice,” he wrote.
LIFE AS A COMEDIAN
Gottfried 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. He would often do those voices as a guest on the Howard Stern show, prompting listeners by the dozens to call in and beg Stern to throw him off.
In his early days at the club the Comedy Store in Hollywood, the managers would have him do his impression of then-little-known Jerry Seinfeld at the end of the night to get rid of lingering patrons.
He also made many notorious contributions to televised roasts, his harshness and love of old-timey standup style making him a perfect contributor.
Gottfried was especially beloved by his fellow comedians and performers.
Hollywood has shown an outpour of love since Gottfried’s passing, including his podcast co-host and friend Frank Santopadre. His podcast’s official website refers to Santopadre as Gottfried’s “late night phone friend” and “fellow showbiz fanatic.”
Gottfried and his wife, Dara, 52, married in Feburary 2007 and share two children together.
(Photo by Bobby Bank/WireImage)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Santopadre said of Gottfried, “Gilbert’s brand of humor was brash, shocking and frequently offensive, but the man behind the jokes was anything but. Those who loved and him 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. He’ll be dearly missed by family, friends, fans and comedy-lovers the world over. To quote Gilbert himself, “Too soon!”
However, Gottfried’s schtick wasn’t always popular. In 2011, Aflac Inc. fired him as the voice of the duck in its commercials over a tweet the comic sent about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Less than a month after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, at the Friars Club Roast of Hugh Hefner, Gottfried made jokes about planes making stops at skyscrapers and was met with boos and shouts of “too soon!”
“To me, funny is funny,” he told The Associated Press last month. “I’ll regret a bit I do that just doesn’t get a laugh, because it’s not funny or an ad lib that doesn’t work. But if it gets a laugh, I feel like, I’m the comedian, and that’s my job.”
Fox News’ Julius Young and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
