Actor and comedian Peter Spellos died on Sunday morning (Nov. 19) following a battle with pancreatic cancer, per TMZ. He was 69.
According to Jennifer Smith, Spellos’ friend and acting student who has power of attorney for the late actor, he passed away at the Franciscan Hospice House in Indianapolis.
“He was loved and cared for and surrounded by people during his final days,” she told TMZ.
Spellos’ death was also confirmed by his friend, director Fred Olen Ray.
“It is with tremendous sadness that I must report the passing of my dear friend, Peter Spellos at 2:30 a.m. this morning,” Ray penned on Facebook Sunday, per Deadline. “Many of you knew Peter personally. He had more loving friends than there are stars in the sky. A gentler giant never existed. A talented actor, teacher and wise old owl.”
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He continued, “He always made me laugh. I cannot even recall how many movies we made together, but they would probably fill a book… maybe some day they will. Goodbye, pal.”
Spellos portrayed Motorman in the 2002 Men in Black sequel, Men In Black II. Other notable credits of his include playing Gus in the NBC drama American Dreams and voicing Sky-byte in 39 episodes of Transformers: Robots in Disguise, an animated series that ran from 2015 to 2017.
According to People, a GoFundMe page was launched on Aug. 31 by an acting student of Spellos’ to help with the late actor’s expenses. The page detailed that he had been diagnosed with stage 3 pancreatic cancer in July. He had been teaching acting since 1989, per Spellos’ website.
Spellos is survived by his brother, James Spellos, and an online memorial is currently being planned by his family, per Deadline. Details have not been made available yet.
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