George Gerdes, Bosch and Girl With the Dragon Tattoo actor, dies at 72

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Actor George Gerdes, who appeared in the 2011 film The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and TV series including Bosch and Grey's Anatomy, died New Year's Day, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 72.

THR reports that Gerdes died at a hospital in Glendale, Calif., after suffering a brain aneurysm Dec. 31. (EW has reached out to representatives for Gerdes.)

Gerdes played a detective in Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, opposite Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig, and he also worked with stars like Michael Keaton in 1987's The Squeeze, Viggo Mortensen in 2004's Hidalgo, and Jennifer Aniston in the 2005 film Rumor Has It.

The actor and musician was a regular presence on television, with small roles in series such as L.A. Law, Seinfeld, NYPD Blue, The X-Files, Chicago Hope, Cold Case, ER, Lost, True Blood, and Dexter. Most recently, he appeared in Perry Mason and Grey's Anatomy, and portrayed Ray Scales in three episodes of Bosch.

Titus Welliver, who plays the title character in the Amazon crime drama, paid tribute to his late costar on Twitter. "An actors actor and deeply kind man," he wrote. "Rest easy brother, we are fewer…"

Fellow actor Michael McKean tweeted, "My dear old friend George Gerdes passed away last night. He was a wonderful songwriter, poet, and actor, much beloved by everyone who knew him. You would have liked him, too. RIP, GG, from the old red lobster."

Born Feb. 23, 1948, in Queens, New York, Gerdes graduated from Carnie Mellon University in 1969. A few years later, he recorded two folk/pop albums for United Artists Records. On stage, he appeared in Sam Shepard's Off Broadway play Fool for Love and Aaron Sorkin's A Few Good Men on Broadway.

Terre Roche, the founding member of the vocal group the Roches who introduced Gerdes to his life partner, Judy Johns, said in a statement to THR that Gerdes was a "triple threat."

"A great singer-songwriter and an actor as well," Roche said. "Not to disparage the worth of big stars, but in many ways George was too deep and profound to become a big pop sensation. Many of us New York City singer-songwriters of that era owe a great debt to George's influence." He added, "He once told me that as a child he wanted to go inside the television with all the people he encountered there. With his acting career, he went on to fulfill that dream for himself."

Gerdes is survived by his sister, Julia Dubnoff, and nephews Zachary, Michael, and Will.

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