Waymond Lee, best known for his role in the Comedy Central sitcom Workaholics, has died at the age of 72.
The actor died on 18 December after complications from ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, a neurodegenerative disease that affects the nerves in the brain and spinal cord. Lee was first diagnosed with a degenerative brain disorder in October, but testing revealed earlier this month that it was ALS.
The news of his death was first reported by TMZ, which received confirmation of Lee’s death from sister, Norine Lee, and wife, Diane Lee. According to the report, he was in the hospital for a week before his death.
His family described him as being “soft-hearted” and a “sentimental person” who never complained about overtime.
Born on 7 March 1952, Lee appeared in 44 of the Emmy-nominated comedy Workaholics, playing Waymond, a colleague of the series’ primary trio. Created by, written by and starring Blake Anderson, Adam DeVine, Anders Holm, and Kyle Newacheck, Workaholics follows a group of college dropouts work as telemarketers during the day and continue to live together.
Workaholics ran for seven seasons on Comedy Central from 2011 to 2017.
According to a 2013 interview, Lee was cast after he responded to a Craigslist ad when the team was looking for local actors for the series.
“Waymond was a Craigslist find. He came in and we thought he was so funny. We kind of put him in every episode since,” Anders Holm told The Hollywood Reporter.
Lee also appeared in Everything Everywhere All At Once, as a film producer in one of the timelines with Michelle Yeoh. He was also seen in films like Bullet Train, Iron Man 2, and My Name Is Khan.
On television, he appeared in several popular shows like Bones, Desperate Housewives, NCIS: Los Angeles, House, CSI: NY, Grey’s Anatomy, Dexter, Castle, How I Met Your Mother, Parks and Recreation, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Shameless, Veep, How to Get Away With Murder, Station 19 and Lucifer.