Harry Anderson, who starred as the kindhearted, zany Judge Harry Stone on the long-running NBC comedy “Night Court,” was found dead early Monday at his home in Asheville, N.C. He was 65.
The Asheville Police Department, which confirmed the death, did not specify the cause but said foul play was not suspected. Turk Pipkin, a longtime friend, said Mr. Anderson had been hospitalized with the flu a few months ago and had remained sick.
Mr. Anderson, who spent nine seasons presiding over a fictional Manhattan courtroom that played host to a steady stream of oddballs, was nominated for three consecutive Emmys, from 1985 to 1987.
“Night Court,” which ran from 1984 to 1992, more than held its own against juggernauts like “Cheers,” “The Cosby Show” and “The Golden Girls” during a storied period for sitcoms.
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It was nominated for 31 Emmys and won seven. John Larroquette, Markie Post, Richard Moll, Charles Robinson and Marsha Warfield starred alongside Mr. Anderson.
Judge Harry Stone shared more than a first name with the actor who played him: Both the character and the man wore colorful ties, were magicians at heart and were superfans of the singer Mel Tormé, who made several guest appearances on “Night Court.” Mr. Anderson delivered a eulogy at Mr. Tormé’s funeral in 1999.
While he earned critical acclaim and amassed a devoted fan base on “Night Court,” Mr. Anderson never fancied himself an actor. “I’m a magician, or a performer, by nature, and that’s always what I’ve been,” he told WGN-TV in Chicago in 2014.
“I was never really an actor,” he said. “I was a magician who fell into a part on ‘Cheers.’ ”
His role as the swindler Harry (the Hat) Gittes on “Cheers” — he appeared in six episodes, four in the show’s first two seasons — led to his break on “Night Court” after he impressed Brandon Tartikoff, the president of NBC.
Mr. Anderson’s “Cheers” character echoed his real life as well. In 1985, he told People magazine that he used to run a classic street hustle, the shell game, in San Francisco, where, at 21, he had his jaw broken by an opponent who was livid at the game’s outcome.
Mr. Anderson, one of three children, was born on Oct. 14, 1952, in Newport, R.I., and spent much of his childhood on the move, often performing on the streets for money, he told People. He had lived in many cities, including Chicago, New York, St. Louis and New Orleans, by the time he landed in California at age 16. From there he found success as a comic magician, which opened the door to his acting career.
About his mother, he said to People: “She was a hustler, yeah. She did a lot of things. We moved around a lot, and she had a lot of men friends.”
But he said his childhood was not bad, adding that his dubious background should not be viewed any differently from his mother’s.
“I respect my mother; she was very concerned with taking care of us,” he said. “She did what needed to be done to try to keep us together. People find my criminal days amusing, but they find her background shocking. I don’t draw any line.”
Mr. Anderson told People that his father was a salesman who was mostly absent from his life, and that he had not seen him for 15 years before his death.
Mr. Anderson is survived by his wife, the former Elizabeth Morgan, and two children from his first marriage, to Leslie Pollack: Eva Fay Anderson, a writer and producer in Los Angeles; and Dashiell Anderson, a teacher.
In his late teens and early 20s, Mr. Anderson traveled the country performing magic. During a stint in Austin, Tex., about 45 years ago, he was performing on the street when he met someone else entertaining passers-by: a juggler named Turk Pipkin.
The chance encounter led to a lifelong friendship and business partnership. Mr. Anderson and Mr. Pipkin performed together across the United States, and when Mr. Anderson decided he wanted to try acting in Hollywood, Mr. Pipkin followed him.
“We were making it up as we went along,” Mr. Pipkin said in an interview on Tuesday. “When he gathered a crowd, people were just mesmerized. People just couldn’t look away.”
Mr. Anderson appeared on “Saturday Night Live” several times in the 1980s. He hosted the show at the height of his fame, in 1985.
After “Night Court,” Mr. Anderson felt burned out, so he moved with his first wife and their children to Washington State. But CBS lured him back into television a few years later with an offer to play the newspaper columnist Dave Barry on the comedy “Dave’s World,” which ran from 1993 to 1997.
In 2008, he appeared in an episode of “30 Rock” titled “The One With the Cast of ‘Night Court.’ ”
In 2000 Mr. Anderson moved to New Orleans, eager to return to his roots. It was there that Mr. Pipkin introduced him to Ms. Morgan. Once married, the Andersons opened the nightclub Oswald’s Speakeasy, where he performed, as well as a magic and curiosity shop, Sideshow.
Mr. Anderson at first refused to leave New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, opting to stay in Oswald’s in the French Quarter while the storm battered the city, Mr. Pipkin said. He evacuated only when the firefighters stationed nearby said they were leaving.
After Katrina, tourism flagged. Mr. Anderson disagreed with the city’s plans for rebuilding, Mr. Pipkin said.
He and his wife had also become captive to the depression that affected many in New Orleans at the time, Mr. Anderson told The New York Times in 2006. Despite efforts to support their community — Mr. Anderson opened his club for what he called French Quarter Town Hall meetings — and maintain their businesses, they chose to call it quits.
The Andersons took a weeklong vacation in Asheville, where they fell in love with an old house and decided to buy it.
“I’m glad we tried to stay” in New Orleans, Mr. Anderson said, “but I don’t want to be the person I will be if I stay here.”
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