It's a sad day in Hollywood as we have learned that noted stage and screen actor, Edward Herrmann has died at age 71. The actor, best known for playing Richard Gilmore on Gilmore Girls, died earlier today after a battle with brain cancer. He had been hospitalized in NYC for over 3 weeks and his family decided to disconnect his respirator today.
Kelly Bishop played Herrmann's wife on Gilmore Girls and the two remained close even after the series ended in 2007. She told TVLine about how fortunate she felt in being able to visit him just yesterday.
"We, the Gilmore Girls family, are so terribly sad and somewhat stunned. We only learned about his illness a week or so ago. I got a call from [Edward's wife] Star Monday night asking if I wanted to come to the hospital to say good-bye. I went yesterday and was able to give Ed love from Lauren [Graham], Alexis [Bledel] and [creator] Amy [Sherman-Palladino] ... I have so many fond memories of our time together on Gilmore Girls and since, mainly via email. I think everyone who knew or worked with Ed found him to be absolutely delightful. Everything looks a little dim, as if the lights went down," explained Bishop. From the sounds of it, his brain cancer may have been pretty fast-moving because usually word spreads pretty quickly when someone is ill in Hollywood.
Aside from Gilmore Girls, some of Herrmann's career highlights included a role in the original stage production of Annie and he portrayed President Franklin Roosevelt on three different occasions. In 1976 Herrmann won a Tony Award for his work on Broadway in Mrs. Warren's Profession.
