Gilmore Girls, Lost Boys Star Edward Herrmann Dies at 71

Edward Herrmann, best known for playing the beloved Richard Gilmore on Gilmore Girls, died Wednesday morning, TMZ reports. He was 71.

The Emmy winner was battling brain cancer and had been in the intensive care unit for the last three weeks, his family told the site. Ultimately, his condition did not improve and the family decided to take him off life support.

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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 winning a Tony for his performance in the revival of Mrs. Warren's Profession four years later.

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.

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His 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 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 statue in 1999 for his work on The Practice. However, it was the following year that brought his most well-known role, playing the no-nonsense but warm patriarch Richard Gilmore on Gilmore Girls from 2000 through 2007.

Additionally, Herrmann was known for his voice work narrating countless specials for the History Channel and PBS.

Most recently, he had 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.