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

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Actor James Michael Tyler, best known for his role as Gunther on the sitcom Friends, passed away on Sunday at age 59 from prostate cancer.

A statement from his manager said that Tyler passed away peacefully at his home.

Tyler was first diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2018, and the disease later spread to his bones, “right at the time of the pandemic.”

“I missed going in for a test, which was not a good thing,” Tyler told TODAY’s Craig Melvin. “So the cancer decided to mutate at the time of the pandemic, and so it’s progressed.”

Tyler advocated for increased screenings and encouraged men to ask their doctors for a PSA test to help catch the cancer early.

“There are other options available to men if they catch it before me,” Tyler told Melvin. “Next time you go in for just a basic exam or your yearly checkup, please ask your doctor for a PSA test. It’s easily detectable [but] if it spreads beyond the prostate to the bones, which is most prevalent in my form, it can be a lot more difficult to deal with.”

He is survived by his wife, Jennifer Carno, and was remembered as a loving and incredible person.

“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,” a representative for Tyler said in a statement to Fox News. “If you met him once you made a friend for life.”

Kevin Bright, a producer for Friends, tweeted that “he was an incredible person who spent his final days helping others.”

“God bless you James, Gunther lives forever,” he added.

https://twitter.com/kbrightELA/status/1452295647248490526

The Friends TV show wrote, “Warner Bros. Television mourns the loss of James Michael Tyler, a beloved actor and integral part of our FRIENDS family. Our thoughts are with his family, friends, colleagues and fans.”