Actor, comedian Shandling dies at 66
LOS ANGELES — Garry Shandling, who as an actor and comedian masterminded a brand of self-inflicted phony docudrama with “The Larry Sanders Show,” has died.
Los Angeles Police officer Tony Im said Shandling died Thursday in Los Angeles of an undisclosed cause. He was 66.
Coroner’s Lt. David Smith said it appeared Shandling died of natural causes, but an official cause of death determination had not yet been made.
Shandling was an innovative and eccentric humorist with a voice that always seemed on the verge of a whine.
In August 1992, Shandling created for HBO his comic masterpiece “The Larry Sanders Show,” which starred him as an egomaniacal late-night TV host with an angst-ridden show-biz life behind the scenes.
Real-life celebrities appeared as guests on Larry’s show-within-the-show, and also interacted with him “off the air.”
