Veteran comedian Louie Anderson has died at age 68.
The stand-up comic died in Las Vegas on Friday morning from cancer, his publicist Glenn Schwartz confirmed to the Los Angeles Times.
Earlier this week it was revealed that the "Baskets" and "Family Feud" star had been diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and was undergoing treatment.
No further details were provided at the time.
Hours after his death, close friend and actor Pauly Shore shared the news on Twitter, saying he was fortunate enough to say goodbye to Anderson.
"Attention comedians and @TheComedyStore alumni’s. I say this with a heavy heart just left the hospital in Las Vegas where Louie Anderson his sisters and close friend were kind enough to let me say my goodbyes he’s still with us but keep him in your prayers," Shore wrote.
Fellow comedian Travon Free also shared a moving tribute on Twitter.
"Louie Anderson was a very dear friend and one of the people who very early in my career believed in me and would put me and a couple of other comics he loved up in a hotel in Vegas and pay us to open for him when we needed money," he tweeted. "What a huge loss. Rest in peace my friend."
Anderson earned two Daytime Emmy awards for his animated kids series "Life With Louie," which he created and lent his voice to from 1994 to 1998. In 2016, he earned a Primetime Emmy award for supporting actor in a comedy for his gender-bending portrayal of Christine Baskets, mother of star Zach Galifianakis' character in the FX comedy "Baskets."
In a 2018 interview, Anderson told the Los Angeles Times that his mother, who died in 1990, inspired his role as Christine Baskets.
"I embrace every part of her: The good, the bad, the ugly," he said about channeling her. "But mostly what I do is embrace my mom’s humanity, which is quite substantial, and I think that’s what’s resonating with people.
"This is her standing in the hurricane that was my dad, protecting 11 little chicks from this gale-force wind and storm battering her," he added, referencing his abusive father. "So if she could stand up to him and still shield us from the majority of that stuff, Jesus, that’s some kind of magnificent being."
He is survived by two sisters, Lisa and Shanna Anderson.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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