This archive report was first published on 4 November 2019.
On November 2, 2019, actor Brian Tarantina was found dead at his home in Manhattan, New York. He was 60 years old.
According to his publicist, Laurie Smith, Tarantina died of complications from a severe health crisis he experienced a few months prior to his death.
Police officers responded to a call of an unconscious male inside an apartment in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York at around 12:40 a.m. They found Tarantina unresponsive on his couch and pronounced him dead at the scene.
The medical examiner's office will perform an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
Born on March 27, 1959, in New York, Tarantina began pursuing an acting career at a performing arts school now known as the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts.
He appeared in Broadway productions in the 1980s, including 'Angels Fall' and 'Biloxi Blues.' Tarantina also had parts on the daytime soap opera 'One Life to Live' in the 1990s and mid-2000s.
His film roles included appearances in 'Uncle Buck,' 'Summer of Sam,' and 'Knight and Day.' Tarantina played Bootsy, the owner of a newsstand, in the popular mother-and-daughter comedy series 'Gilmore Girls' in 2001 and 2002, as well as in the 2016 Netflix mini-series 'Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.'
Most recently, Tarantina was known for his work on 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,' which won the Emmy for outstanding comedy series in 2019. He played Jackie, the M.C. at the Gaslight comedy club, where Midge Maisel, the housewife-turned-comic played by Rachel Brosnahan, got her start.
On Instagram, Rachel Brosnahan mourned the loss of her castmate, saying, 'He was hilarious and talented and kind. Our family of weirds won't be the same without him.'
The show's creators, Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, said in a statement that Tarantina had been in their lives for more than 25 years, adding, 'He was in Amy's first pilot. And he's been in every significant thing we've done. He came in with that voice and that timing and he made every scene better. And weirder.'
Tarantina is survived by a son, Sean; a sister, Claire; and a brother, according to his sister.
