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Garry Shandling, who as an actor and comedian pioneered a pretend brand of self-focused docudrama with "The Larry Sanders Show," has died.
Shandling was taken from his Los Angeles home by ambulance Thursday morning for an unspecified medical emergency and pronounced dead at a hospital. He was 66.
Lt. David Smith of the Los Angeles County coroner's office said Shandling's death appeared to be from natural causes and no autopsy was planned. No official cause of death determination has been made yet, but medical records will be used to determine how the comedian died, Smith said.
Alan Nierob, Shandling's spokesman, said doctors believe the comedian died from a heart attack. Shandling had no history of heart trouble, Nierob said, but doctors at the hospital where Shandling died Thursday said it appeared he suffered a fatal heart attack.
Shandling created the 1990s HBO series "The Larry Sanders Show," which starred him as an egomaniacal late-night TV host with an angst-ridden show-biz life behind the scenes.
The Chicago-born Shandling moved from a short stint in the advertising business to comedy writing and standup. His big break happened in 1981 when he had a successful appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson:
He began to experiment with TV comedy with his first series, "It's Garry Shandling's Show," a Showtime sitcom that called attention to its artificial nature with the actors routinely breaking the fourth wall.
In 1992, he created his comic masterpiece with "The Larry Sanders Show," which starred him as an egomaniacal late-night TV host with an anxiety-ridden show-biz life behind the scenes. Here's a scene with Shandling and Jeffrey Tambor:
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This story was updated with the coroner official's and spokesman's comments on cause of death.