James Michael Tyler, Who Played Gunther on ‘Friends,’ Dies at 59

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James Michael Tyler, who played the deadpan, smitten barista Gunther on the Television set display “Friends,” died Sunday of prostate cancer at his residence in Los Angeles, his longtime supervisor explained. He was 59.

Mr. Tyler was diagnosed with highly developed prostate cancer in September 2018, in accordance to a statement from his manager, Toni Benson. Following his analysis, Mr. Tyler shared his tale to encourage other people to get screened for prostate cancer as early as 40.

“Friends” helped start the professions of its star-studded solid, which integrated Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer. It debuted on NBC in the slide of 1994, ran for a 10 years, and ordinarily had about 25 million to 30 million viewers just about every week.

While Mr. Tyler was not a key character, he was broadly regarded to be “the seventh friend” and appeared in 150 episodes, according to IMDB.com. He performed the component of Gunther, a barista at Central Perk, the friends’ hangout, who experienced a deep crush on Ms. Aniston’s character, Rachel, who also labored at the espresso store.

Mr. Tyler’s route to the show was fortuitous. Even though working as an real barista at a authentic-everyday living coffee store, he was asked if he would be intrigued in getting an extra on “Friends.” For the 1st season, his character was recognised as “Coffee Person.”

“At the time I was also doing the job as a barista for a spot referred to as the Bourgeois Pig, one particular of the last impartial espresso residences in Los Angeles,” Mr. Tyler explained to The New York Moments in 2012. In his 2nd period, he got a line of dialogue: “Yeah,” he reported, when Mr. Schwimmer’s character, Ross, asked him if his apartment had stairs.

Born Could 28, 1962, in Winona, Pass up., Mr. Tyler was the youngest of 5 little ones, lifted by a retired Air Drive captain and a homemaker, in accordance to a biography on IMDB.com. He moved to Anderson, S.C., to are living with his sister at age 11 and enrolled at Clemson University as a geology major. He earned a master’s of great arts from the College of Georgia and moved to Los Angeles immediately after a temporary stint of offering vehicles in Olympia, Wash., in accordance to the bio.

“Michael cherished are living songs, cheering on his Clemson Tigers, and would generally find himself in entertaining and unplanned adventures,” Ms. Benson said in a assertion. “If you met him at the time you made a mate for everyday living.”

Mr. Tyler disclosed publicly in June that he experienced prostate most cancers. He instructed “Today” that he was surrounded by an “extraordinary” support group and that quite a few people have been praying for his overall health.

“It’s created me, individually, just notice how essential every single instant is, each and every working day,” Mr. Tyler reported. “And battling. Do not give up. Continue to keep preventing. Retain by yourself as light-weight as probable. And have ambitions. Set plans. My aim this earlier calendar year was to see my 59th birthday. I did that, Could 28th. My purpose now is to assist preserve at the very least one particular life by coming out with this information.”

When going through cure, Mr. Tyler ongoing to perform and starred in two limited films, “The Gesture and the Word” and “Processing,” earning accolades at movie festivals, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Mr. Tyler’s survivors include his wife, Jennifer Carno. A total list of survivors was not quickly available.