David Lander, best known as Squiggy on Laverne & Shirley, has passed away. He was 73.
The actor-comedian died of multiple sclerosis at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Friday (December 4), according to Entertainment Tonight.
The star, who battled MS for 37 years, disclosed his diagnosis in 1999. A Goodwill Ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Lander would go on to author an autobiography about living the disease in the 2002 book, Fall Down Laughing: How Squiggy Caught Multiple Sclerosis and Didn't Tell Nobody.
"David was my friend for fifty-five years," Lander’s Laverne & Shirley costar, Michael McKean, told ET in a statement of remembrance. "He was the funniest man I ever knew, and faced a hideous illness with guts and humor. Ask anyone who knew him, you'll get the same story. Possibly a genius, definitely a great friend."
A native of New York, it would be at the High School for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Tech and New York University where Lander and McKean would create their Lenny and Squiggy act that would earn them a feature in the 1976 sitcom.
In his lifetime, Lander performed in several other television projects including Happy Days, Married... with Children, Twin Peaks, The Drew Carey Show, and more. In addition, he starred in films like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Say It Isn’t So, A Bug’s Life, and numerous other notable big-screen movies.
Lander is survived by his wife, Kathy, and daughter Natalie.
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