Richard Lewis dead at 76: Curb Your Enthusiasm comic suffered from Parkinson’s disease in ‘rocky’ years before death

Lewis recently discussed his Parkinson’s disease on social media.

The fan-favourite stand-up comedian was 76 as his death was confirmed by Deadline.

It was also confirmed by his publicist that he died from a heart attack.

Richard became well known in the 1970s as he was a part of the New York and Los Angeles comedy scenes with famous comedians including Richard Belzer, Elayne Boosler, and Andy Kaufman.

He was also a feature on the late-night shows including The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson – where he developed his dark jokes about his addictions and neurosis.

The TV and movie star played a fictionalised version of himself on the hit HBO series, Curb Your Enthusiasm – and even reprised his role for the 12th season alongside Larry David.

He also appeared in Robin Hood: Men In Tights, Once Upon A Crime, and The Elevator.

His Parkinson’s battle

In April 2023, Richard took to his X, formerly Twitter, account to discuss his health.

“Three and a half years ago, I was in the middle of a tour and then I finally ended it with a show I said ‘You know, I’m at the top of my game, after 50 years almost I’m just gonna call it quits.’”

“Then, out of the blue, the s**t hit the fan. I had four surgeries back to back to back to back. It was incredible, I couldn’t believe it. It was bad luck but it’s life, you know?”

“I had back surgery, then I had a shoulder surgery, then I had a shoulder replacement surgery, and a hip replacement. So, you know, there was much where I was just focusing on [physical therapy].”

“On top of all that, two years ago, I started walking a little stiffly, I was shuffling my feet and I went to a neurologist and they gave me a brain scan and I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.”

He revealed that he was lucky enough to have caught the disease early enough that it would progress slowly and he was on the right medications so he was “cool.”

He continued that he was all finished with stand-up comedy and that he wanted to focus on writing and acting.

This article originally appeared in the US Sun and was reproduced with permission