Taylor Negron, the actor and comedian known as one of the most "fame-ish" men in Hollywood, died in his Los Angeles home on Saturday at age 57 after a years-long battle with liver cancer.
"After 30 years in show business I’ve given up on the idea that people will know my first and last name together, and I've accepted that I will never, ever be actually famous. Instead, I am fame-ish," he wrote in a recent
blog post for XO Jane.
"Stefon talked about me on 'SNL.' The punk band Anthrax wrote a song referring to my role in Rodney Dangerfield’s 'Easy Money.' All very fame-ish credits."
Negron spent his life playing the everyman on both the silver and small screens, racking up appearances in more than 100 scripted works.
He worked in films including "Punchline," "Angels in the Outfield," "Stuart Little," "The Aristocrats," and "The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas." On TV, he played a number of characters on "Hill Street Blues," "ER," "Hope and Gloria," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Reno 911," and "Friends."
One of his first roles, however, was playing the Pizza Guy in 1982's "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."
As a result, "Where do I know you from?" is a question he got throughout his life.
"I customize my answer based on age. If you are a woman in your thirties I will most likely smile and respond with assurance: 'I was Monica's boss on Friends.' If you are a man in your fifties, I clap him on the back and say: 'Ah yes, you might know me as Rodney Dangerfield's son-in-law from 'Easy Money,''" he wrote.
"That's part of the fun of being That Guy."
According to the Los Angeles Times, Negron was a child model, and was sketched by Hanna-Barbera artists for a cartoon based on the life of Evel Knievel.
At age 13, he got a telephone call from actress Mae West — which inspired him once and for all to pursue a career in Hollywood.
He became a stand-up comic in high school — going on to work clubs with the likes of Robin Williams and Sandra Bernhard — interned with Lucille Ball at age 19, and studied with the veteran acting coach Lee Strasberg. The rest, as they say, is history.
Negron is survived by his mother and father, two brothers, and his cousin, Chuck Negron, formerly of the rock band Three Dog Night.
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