(RNN) - Jay Thomas, who is best remembered for his roles as talk show host Jerry Gold on"Murphy Brown" and hockey player Eddie Lebec on "Cheers" has died at age 69.
His agent Don Buchwald told the New York Daily News that he had cancer.
Thomas played Murphy Brown's obnoxious boyfriend from 1989-98 after playing Rhea Pearlman's husband, a player with the Boston Bruins, on "Cheers." His character was written out of the show when he appeared at a ice show and was killed by a Zamboni.
He was a regular on the David Letterman show, where he often appeared during the Christmas season. He told arguably the funniest talk-show story in world history based on an appearance with Clayton Moore, the star of TV's "The Lone Ranger."
