Actor Miguel Ferrer, who appeared in seven seasons of the CBS crime drama series NCIS: Los Angeles, has died at age 61, according to a statement from the network:
Actor Miguel Ferrer passed away peacefully in his home this morning [19 January 2017] after losing his battle to cancer. He was surrounded by close family and friends, including his wife Lori, sons Lukas and Rafi, and his brothers and sisters.
Ferrer came from a well-known show business family. His parents were '50s top 40 diva Rosemary Clooney and actor José Ferrer, and he was a cousin of actor-director George Clooney. In a statement published by People magazine, Clooney said Ferrer made the world a "brighter and funnier" place:
“Today history will mark giant changes in our world, and lost to most will be that on the same day Miguel Ferrer lost his battle to throat cancer. But not lost to his family,” Clooney said in the statement.
“Miguel made the world brighter and funnier and his passing is felt so deeply in our family that events of the day, (monumental events), pale in comparison,” Clooney continued. “We love you Miguel. We always will.”
Born in Santa Monica, California in 1955, Ferrer got an early start in the entertainment industry, working as a studio musician (drummer) and touring with bands that backed his mother and Bing Crosby.
He began acting in the mid-'80s, appearing in minor film and television roles before landing the breakthrough part of the villainous corporate executive Bob Morton in the 1987 movie RoboCop. One of his most memorable roles was as FBI agent Albert Rosenfield in the David Lynch television series Twin Peaks (a role Ferrer reprised for a Showtime revival of the show airing later this year).
Ferrer is survived by his wife, Lori, two sons, Lukas and Rafi, and his brothers and sisters.