Tuesday, June 30, 2026

RIP Jay Thomas, Comedian, Actor from “Cheers,” “Murphy Brown,” “Mork and Mindy,” Popular Radio Host

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Sad to report that Jay Thomas has died at age 69 from cancer.

Thomas was a radio deejay who moonlighted as a popular TV actor. Or he was a popular TV actor and comic who moonlighted as a deejay.

His nine appearances on “Murphy Brown” earned him an Emmy nomination. He also appeared nine times on “Cheers” as Carla’s second husband, Eddie, the race car driver.

Thomas also had 20 episodes of “Mork and Mindy” with Robin Williams. His resume is endless. He was a welcome presence on those shows, able to handle comedy and drama.

More recently, he was a deejay on Sirius XM. He’d had radio shows for years. He will be sorely missed.

Jay appeared on Letterman for years. Here was his last show in 2014.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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