Richard Lewis, Stand-Up Legend & 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' Star, Dies at 76

Stand-up legend Richard Lewis, most recently seen on the current and final season of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," died Tuesday at 76.

Lewis' passing was reported by fellow legend Bette Midler, who announced it on Twitter Wednesday afternoon.

His cause of death was a heart attack.

Lewis announced last year that he was battling Parkinson's disease, and was retiring from stand-up comedy immediately.

His arc on "Curb" was long — he first began playing a heightened, hyperneurotic version of himself on the show in 2000, and had appeared on over 40 episodes across the show's 12 critically acclaimed seasons.

Larry David said in a statement shared by HBO, "Richard and I were born three days apart in the same hospital and for most of my life he’s been like a brother to me. He had that rare combination of being the funniest person and also the sweetest. But today he made me sob and for that I’ll never forgive him.”

Born June 29, 1947, in Brooklyn, he grew up in New Jersey and attended college in Ohio.

Lewis' earliest job was writing ad copy, which led to creating jokes for the likes of comedian Morty Gunty. By 1971, he was making his stand-up and improv debut.

Discovered by comic David Brenner, who paved the way for Lewis to perform at more and more comedy clubs, Lewis killed in his "Tonight Show" appearance in 1974, which set the stage for 50 years of laughs.

A talk show favorite known for his memorable spots on "Late Night with David Letterman" and countless others, he expanded his fan base with his first acting gig, in "Diary of a Young Comic," aired on TV in place of "SNL" one Saturday in 1979.

Though he often played himself, he also appeared in the films "Once Upon a Crime" (1992), "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" (1993), "Wagons East" (1994), "Drunks" (1995), "Leaving Las Vegas" (1995), "Vamps" (2012), and more.

On TV, he enjoyed lasting success as the male lead on the sitcom "Anything but Love" (1989-1992) opposite Jamie Lee Curtis.

Curtis wrote on Instagram Friday, "I've just read that my friend Richard Lewis has died. I remember exactly where I was when I saw a billboard of him about a stand up special on Sunset Boulevard when we were casting the ABC pilot 'Anything But Lov'e and asked the casting people to bring him in to audition to play my best friend/maybe boyfriend, Marty Gold. I thought he was handsome. He made me laugh, which is the one thing that a strong, capable woman, can't really do for herself. He got the part when I snort laughed when he mispronounced the word Bundt cake. He blew everyone else away It was a love triangle show and they didn't pick up that pilot but they came back to me and said that the chemistry with Richard was so great and could we revamp the original pilot which is the show we ended up making for a couple years. He was also a stand-up comic and hated the live audience, where I, who had never done a play, loved it. He used to hide his lines everywhere on the set, on props, door frames, on my face in a close up and was always carrying a clipboard with his lines on them. It turns out he was a wonderful actor. Deep and so freaking funny."

She went on, "We went through the death of our friend and costar, Richard Frank, together and grieved the loss of our producer and friend, John Ritter. Richard's last text to me, was hoping that I could convince ABC/Disney to put out another boxed set of episodes of the show."

Other series on which he was a regular: "Harry" (1987), "Daddy Dearest" (1993), and "Hiller and Diller" (1997-1998). He recurred on "Rude Awakening" (1998), "7th Heaven" (2002-2004), "'Til Death" (2010), and "Blunt Talk" (2015).

In 2000, he released the memoir "The Other Great Depression," in which he detailed his struggles with alcohol, cocaine, crystal meth, body dysmorphia, and depression. As dark as some of his challenges were, he always channeled them into his stage persona.

His use of his addictions in his work helped many — including his co-star Jamie Lee Curtis, who wrote, "He also is the reason I am sober. He helped me. I am forever grateful for him for that act of grace alone. He found love with Joyce and that, of course, besides his sobriety, is what mattered most to him."

He is survived by Joyce Lapinsky, his wife of nearly 20 years.