Story highlights
Listeners enjoyed Lynch's testy on-air relationship with Howard Stern
Late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel: Lynch was "my all-time favorite Howard Stern caller"
Artie Lange: Lynch "truly didn't care what u thought of him"
Health problems didn't keep Lynch from working on several TV shows
Eric “The Actor” Lynch, who became a celebrity among celebrities by calling in to Howard Stern’s radio show, died Saturday, his manager said.
Lynch, 39, stood just 3 feet tall, but his reach was long thanks to the entertaining chemistry he developed with Stern over a decade of phone calls.
“Despite our sometimes testy on-air relationship the entire staff absolutely loved Eric the Actor,” a message on Stern’s website said Monday. “When he visited the show in person everyone lined up to take pictures with him. And not just us – celebrities all over the world loved Eric.”
His manager, Johnny Fratto, confirmed Lynch’s death in a Twitter posting Sunday: “I am so sorry and so sad to inform everyone that my friend Eric “The Actor” Lynch passed away yesterday afternoon!!!”
Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, who had Lynch on his show in 2008, tweeted that he was “my all-time favorite Howard Stern caller and I will miss him terribly.”
Comedian Wanda Sykes was also a Lynch fan. She tweeted: “Sad to hear about the passing of #EricTheActor. He was one of my favorite callers. #ByeForNow”
Bravo TV host Andy Cohen initially tweeted that he was praying that word of Lynch’s death was not true, but then: “seems like it’s true … So RIP Eric the Actor. One of the great Stern callers ever. He was incredibly entertaining for many years. :-(“
Comedian Artie Lange, who is well-known for his work on Stern’s radio show, tweeted that Lynch “truly didn’t care what u thought of him. Which in some ways made him happier than us all.”
Lynch, who lived and died in Sacramento, California, suffered from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, according to his Internet Movie Database biography.
His health problems, however, did not keep him from working on several television shows, starting with a role as a travel agency client in a 2005 episode of NBC’s “American Dreams.”
His Stern stardom also helped Lynch land roles as a homeless man on the Fox TV drama “Fringe” and a landlord on the USA Network’s “In Plain Sight.”
His television resume also includes a cameo role on the FX show “Legit.”