Former “Night Court” star Harry Anderson died in North Carolina on Monday, police said.
Asheville cops answered a 911 call to Anderson’s home at 6:41 a.m. and found the 65-year-old actor dead, city police spokeswoman Christina Hallingse said.
“No foul play is suspected,” Hallingse added.
Anderson, who was also a magician, came to TV fame in the early 1980s with a recurring character, a trick-performing flimflam man Harry “The Hat” Gittes in NBC’s iconic sitcom “Cheers.”
He later joined NBC’s powerhouse Thursday night lineup as fun-loving Manhattan Judge Harry T. Stone on “Night Court,” which lasted for 193 episodes between 1984 and 1992.
Anderson appeared in all episodes of “Night Court,” which also launched to stardom John Larroquette, who played skirt-chasing prosecutor Dan Fielding.
Anderson is survived by his wife Elizabeth Morgan and two children from his first marriage to Leslie Pollack.
In a 2011 interview with The Asheville Citizen-Times, Anderson said he was grateful for — and somewhat confused by — the fame he gained from “Night Court.”
“People who liked (“Night Court”) loved it. Those were easy characters to like. People meet me and they don’t feel threatened. I have been in their living rooms a lot,” Anderson said.
“It was a great way to make a good living. The so-called fame and success — I never understood what that is. I used to sit in restaurants and wonder why people were looking at me. And my wife would say, ‘Because you are on television.’ ”