Stand-up comedian and actor Shelley Berman, who was still performing in his late eighties, died on Friday at his home in Bell Canyon, California at the age of 92.
Alzheimer's disease was cited as the cause of death. In a post on Berman's Facebook fan page, a friend of the comedian revealed that the actor "slipped away peacefully, in his sleep, with no pain, as far as his hospice care workers could tell." Born in Chicago, Berman first came to publiv attention as a member of the city's Second City improv group.
Part of the stand-up comic wave he certainly was, but in fact he would sit down when delivering his routine, which, as often as not, followed the notable "telephone conversation" style he and fellow Chicago comedians, like Bob Newhart, made their trademark.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Berman was the first comedian to win a Grammy Award, winning the inaugural Best Comedy Performance, Spoken Word in 1959 for his comedy album Inside Shelley Berman. The LP was the first comedy album to go gold with 500,000 copies sold and made the Number two spot on the the Billboard 200 (American charts).
Berman starred as Archibald Beechcroft in The Twilight Zone and played Larry David's father Nat in Curb Your Enthusiasm. The latter role gained the actor an Emmy nomination.
