St. Paul native, comedian Louie Anderson dead at 68
Louie Anderson, a native of St. Paul who lived in Las Vegas, died Friday. He was 68.
The comedian, Emmy winner and game show host died in a Las Vegas hospital, where he was admitted earlier this week for blood cancer treatment, according to multiple reports.
Anderson was battling diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, a common type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Anderson's comedy career spanned decades, earning him a place on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest stand-up comedians of all time. He performed countless stand-up shows across the world, starred in TV shows and movies, appeared on late-night talk shows and was a best-selling author.
Anderson grew up in Minnesota as one of 11 kids. He won first place at the 1981 Midwest Comedy Competition, which helped kickstart his comedy career. He made his first national TV debut a few years later when Johnny Carson invited him to perform on The Tonight Show in 1984, IMDB says.
He's best known for his roles as Christine Baskets in Baskets, for which he won an Emmy in 2016, and the host of Family Feud from 1992-2002.
His filmography is long, including voicing an animated version of himself in the TV show Life With Louie, for which he won two Emmy awards, and playing Maurice in the 1988 film Coming to America and the 2021 remake Coming 2 America.
