Cheers and Murphy Brown actor, Jay Thomas dies at 69.
Thomas was born in Kermit, Texas, and was raised in New Orleans.
The actor began his acting career in the early 80’s and was credited with roles on Mork and Mindy, Cheers, and Murphy Brown who won him two Emmy awards for outstanding guest actor in a comedy for his role of Jerry Gold, a talk show host.
In addition to his work on TV, he had an annual holiday season appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, which included him telling the story of giving a ride to a costumed Clayton Moore, star of TV’s The Lone Ranger, and getting involved in a minor car crash. Thomas told the same story every year beginning in 1998 and until Letterman retired.
“I loved Jay,” Letterman told CNN in a statement. “His Lone Ranger story was the best I heard in 30 years… My heart goes out to his family.”
