Bob Saget, a stand-up comedian and actor beloved for his role as Danny Tanner on the 1990’s sitcom “Full House,” died Sunday at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Orlando, Fla., police confirmed to Variety. He was 65.
Shortly after 4 p.m., police officers responded to a man down call at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes hotel and discovered Saget unresponsive in a hotel room, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office told Variety. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The sheriff’s office did not have any information on a cause of death, and detectives did not find any signs of foul play or drug use in the case. The Medical Examiner’s Office will determine a cause and manner of death at a later date.
Saget had recently kicked off a nationwide stand-up tour in September 2021 that was set to run through June of 2022. According to his most recent post on Twitter, Saget had performed Saturday evening at Ponte Vedra Concert Hall in Jacksonville, Fla.
In 1987, Saget was cast as patriarch Danny Tanner on ABC’s “Full House,” where he played the father of D.J. (Candace Cameron), Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) and Michelle Tanner (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen). In the show, he raises his daughters as a single dad after the death of his wife, and he was joined by his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis (John Stamos) and his best friend Joey Gladstone (Dave Coulier) to run their adorably dysfunctional sitcom family. The show ran for eight seasons and 192 episodes from 1987 to 1994, reaching more than 17 million viewers during its peak in Season 5. From Season 3 onwards, “Full House” was in the Nielsen Top 30 TV shows.
Netflix launched a sequel series, titled “Fuller House,” which ran for five season and 75 episodes from 2016 to 2020. Saget reprised his role on the show in 10 episodes of the follow-up, including the series premiere and finale. The show followed D.J. as she raised her own children, and most of the original cast members, excluding the Olsens, appeared on the show.
From 1989 to 1997, Saget hosted “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” showcasing hilarious homemade videos of pranks, pratfalls and cute pets. Saget was the inaugural host of the show as it started out as an hourlong special, and he kept the emcee duties for eight seasons. After he departed, the show was co-hosted by John Fugelsang and Daisy Fuentes for two seasons. Tom Bergeron took over in 2001 for a 13-year run, followed by Alfonso Ribeiro starting in 2015.
Besides “Full House” and “AFHV,” Saget was also known for narrating CBS’ “How I Met Your Mother,” where he voiced the future Ted Mosby.
More to come…