Gottfried died from a rare genetic muscle disease that can trigger a dangerously abnormal heartbeat. Gottfried was known for his raw, scorched voice and crude jokes. “Please keep laughing as loud as possible in Gilbert’s honour,” his family says in a statement.
Gottfried was a MTV star and appeared on “Saturday Night Live” in the 1980s. Comedian Colin Quinn called him “the first comedian who would go on and all the other comics would go in the room to watch”.
Gene Gottfried played Iago the parrot in Disney’s “Aladdin”. He also voiced Digit the bird on PBS Kids’ “Cyberchase”. Gottfried was fond of doing obscure and dated impressions for as long as he could milk them, including Groucho Marx, Lugosi and Andrew “Dice” Clay.
