RIP TO THE MAN WITH HAIR BRIGHTER THAN SUN

Actor James Michael Tyler, best known for portraying the role of Gunther on the hit sitcom ‘Friends’, passed away at the age of 59. Tyler had been battling prostate cancer since 2018.
The world knew him as Gunther (the seventh ‘Friend’), from the hit series Friends, but Michael’s loved ones knew him as an actor, musician, cancer-awareness advocate, and loving husband,” the representative said in a statement.
Gunther worked as a waiter and manager in ‘Friends’ coffee house, Central Perk. He also worked on several other projects such as ‘Scrubs’, ‘Modern Music’, and ‘Sabrina the Teenage Witch’.

Friends co-creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane also put out the following statement:

“James was a genuinely kind, sweet man. When he started as an extra on Friends, his unique spirit caught our eye and we knew we had to make him a character. He made Gunther’s unrequited love incredibly relatable. Our heart goes out to his wife, Jennifer Carno.”

Jennifer Aniston honored Tyler on Instagram Sunday evening, writing: “Friends would not have been the same without you. Thank you for the laughter you brought to the show and to all of our lives. You will be so missed.”

Tyler revealed his cancer diagnosis on June 21 during an interview with Today‘s Craig Melvin. “In September of 2018, I was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer, which had spread to my bones,” he said at the time. The cancer had been discovered during a routine physical when he was 56 years old.

He had been treated with hormone therapy, but took a turn for the worse at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. According to Today, his cancer had mutated, causing fractures in his bones and tumors up and down his spine. He was paralyzed from the waist down, and as a result chose to appear virtually during May’s Friends reunion on HBO Max.After being diagnosed with cancer, Tyler starred in two short films while undergoing treatment and gave a spoken word performance of the Stephan Kalinich poem “If You Knew” to help raise awareness for the Prostate Cancer Foundation.