Rick Ducommun In 'The Burbs' (Photo : YouTube)
Rick Docummun, best known for playing the Tom Hanks' prankster neighbor, Art Weingartner, in Joe Dante's "The 'Burbs," has passed away. He was 62 years old.
The comic star's wife, Leslie, told The Hollywood Reporter that the actor died on June 12 in a hospice in Vancouver. He was in advanced stage of diabetes.
The actor had done several small yet significant roles in many movies over a period of time. His role of a native of Saskatchewan, who shut down the power grid that plunged the Nakatomi Corp building into darkness in the Bruce Willis-starrer "Die Hard" will remain memorable for his fans.
Ducommun was also seen in 1991 hit flick "The Last Boy Scout" and made a guest appearance in the 1990s show "The Wayans Bros." The late comic star was also seen in "Scary Movie" as the lead character Anna Farris' father.
The actor also made his mark in other movies like "Spaceballs," "Little Monsters," "Class Act," "Blank Check," "MVP: Most Valuable Primate" and "Pauly Shore Is Dead." He also did many stand-up specials for HBO in 1989 and 1992.
The comic star first came into limelight, when he starred on the children's show "Zig Zag" in Canada attracting the attention of Alan Thicke, who brought him to Los Angeles to serve as an announcer and performer on his late-night talk show "Thicke of the Night," CNN reported.
Joe Dante, who directed Ducommun in both his hit movies "The Burbs" and "Gremlin 2: The New Batch," took to Twitter to pay tribute to the late actor. He tweeted, "Relatively unknown standup comic Rick Ducommon beat out SCTV's Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis for the part of @tomhanks' paranoid neighbor."
