'Gilmore Girls' Star Edward Herrmann Dies At 71

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View All December 31, 2014 12:13pm

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Edward Herrmann, an Emmy winner best known for his work on The Gilmore Girls, has died, his manager confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 71.

Herrmann died Wednesday morning in a New York hospital after fighting brain cancer. He was in intensive care for the past three-and-a-half weeks, his family told TMZ.

See more Hollywood’s Notable Deaths of 2014

Herrmann played patriarch Richard Gilmore for seven seasons, from 2000-07, on the WB (and later CW) series Gilmore Girls. In 1999, he won a guest actor Emmy for his work on ABC’s The Practice, where he played the favorite law professor of Lindsay (Kelli Williams), who defended a tobacco company.

See more Hollywood’s 100 Favorite Films

In all he earned five Emmy nominations, including two for portraying President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the telefilms Eleanor and Franklin (1976) and Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years (1977). He also played FDR in John Huston’s Annie (1982).

Herrmann also was the father of Macaulay Culkin in Richie Rich (1994) and the villainous Max in The Lost Boys (1987), and he appeared in six episodes of CBS’ The Good Wife as lawyer Lionel Deerfield.

He was married twice and is survived by three children.

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