Edward Herrmann dies from brain cancer at 71

Gilmore Girls’ Edward Herrmann has died at the age of 71.

The 6ft 5in star had been diagnosed with brain cancer and was in intensive care in New York before his death on December 31.

Edward Herrmann’s son Rory said in a statement: “He was full of knowledge and kindness and goodness.

“He always wanted to share the great and beautiful things in life.”

Edward Herrmann played the beloved grandfather Richard Gilmore on Gilmore Girls, a waspish family drama set in a storybook Connecticut town.

The actor, who trained at London’s Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, was singled out for praise when Entertainment Weekly picked Gilmore Girls as one of its “new TV classics” in 2009.

However, his son Rory, said his father’s favorite role had been President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whom he played in the TV movies Eleanor and Franklin and Eleanor and Franklin: The Whitehouse Years in 1976 and 1977.

Edward Herrmann reprised the role in the 1982 movie musical Annie, and provided the voice for FDR in Ken Burns’ documentary series The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, last year.

He also starred in Joel Schumacher’s teen vampire film, The Lost Boys, alongside Kiefer Sutherland, where he played Max; and won a primetime Emmy in 1999 for his guest role in the Boston-based legal series The Practice.

His Broadway credits included the original run of Love Letters in 1989, The Deep Blue Sea with Blythe Danner in 1998 and George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession, for which he won a Tony Award in 1976.

Edward Herrmann often appeared on the big screen in major films including The Wolf of Wall Street, The Aviator and Reds, and recently appeared on shows such as Grey’s Anatomy, How I Met Your Mother and The Good Wife.