Actor Peter Scolari died on Friday after a prolonged battle with cancer at the age of 66, according to US media reports. He is best known for starring opposite Tom Hanks in the early 1980s sitcom “Bosom Buddies.”  

Scolari was born in New Rochelle, New York and got his first major acting role in the short-lived 1980 ABC comedy “Goodtime Girls”. He then stared in “Bosom Buddies” later that year with Hanks, playing two guys who disguise themselves as women to live in an affordable, all-female apartment building. He has been a lifelong friend of the acclaimed actor.

Following his death, commemorations flooded in on social media platforms. 

Songwriter Peter Zizzo wrote: “Wow, Peter Scolari. For years I wondered how hard it must’ve been for “the other guy” on Bosom Buddies having to watch Tom Hanks’s historic trajectory. Turns out Peter went on to a pretty fantastic career himself. Wonderful in everything I saw him in.”

“So sorry we’ve lost him,” he further added.

Meanwhile, Jared Logan said, “RIP Peter Scolari. I loved him in Newhart growing up, and he brought so much to the last season of Evil. He could inject comedy into a role just by playing it honestly. He was great.”

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Scolari received three Emmy nominations for his part in “Newhart.” He received a guest acting Emmy for playing Hannah’s (Lena Dunham) father on HBO’s “Girls,” twenty-seven years after his third nomination for the show.

“Peter Scolari had that incredible talent/ability to be both someone new and someone familiar in the stories he told in each TV show he starred in. That funny, humane character who was lighting up the living room when I was a kid in the suburbs, then an adult in New York City,” podcaster Dan Kennedy wrote.

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Meanwhile, stand-up comedian Noel Casler said, “I don’t have the words to describe what a good man Peter Scolari was, besides being a tremendous talent he was always willing to reach out a hand and help others. He had many gifts in his life and he always shared them freely. Rest Easy, Peter.”

Scolari is survived by his wife, Tracy Shayne, and children Nicholas, Joseph, Keaton and Cali. He was previously married to Debra Steagal and Cathy Trien.