Edward Herrmann, best known for playing the beloved Richard Gilmore on Gilmore Girls, died Wednesday morning, TMZ reports. He was 71.
The Emmy-winning actor was battling brain cancer and had been in intensive care for the last three weeks, his family told the website. Ultimately, when his condition did not improve, they decided to take him off life support.
A Washington, D.C. native, Herrmann studied acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He first made a name for himself in the theater, debuting on Broadway in 1972 and taking home a Tony four years later, for his performance in the revival of Mrs. Warren's Profession.
Around that same time, he portrayed former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in two TV movies, 1976's Eleanor and Franklin and 1977's Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years. He earned Emmy nominations for both performances.
Herrmann's first notable film role came in the original adaptation of The Great Gatsby. He went on to star as the title character in Harry's War, as Goldie Hawn's rich husband in Overboard, and, perhaps most memorably, as the head vampire in 1987's The Lost Boys.
He eventually returned to the small screen, earning two more Emmy nominations for his role on St. Elsewhere in the late '80s before finally winning the statuette in 1999 for his work on The Practice. However, it was the following year that brought his most well-known role, as the no-nonsense but warm patriarch Richard Gilmore on Gilmore Girls from 2000 through 2007.
Additionally, Herrmann was known for his voice work; the actor narrated countless specials for the History Channel and PBS.
Most recently, he voiced the character of Franklin Delano Roosevelt for Ken Burns' PBS series The Roosevelts: An Intimate History and recurred on The Good Wife.
Herrmann is survived by his second wife, Star, and three children.