Garry Emmanuel Shandling (November 29, 1949 – March 24, 2016) was an American actor, comedian, writer, director, and producer.

He made a successful stand-up performance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson where he became a frequent guest host.

In film, he had a recurring role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in Iron Man 2 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

[3][4] He grew up in the Casa Loma Estates area of Tucson, Arizona, having moved there with his family so that his older brother Barry could receive treatment for cystic fibrosis.

[5] After graduating from Palo Verde High School, Shandling attended the University of Arizona to major in electrical engineering,[6] but instead completed a degree in marketing and pursued a year of postgraduate studies in creative writing.

[8][9] In 1973, he moved to Los Angeles and worked at an advertising agency for a time, then sold a script for the popular NBC sitcom Sanford and Son.

[11] Shandling said that he became a stand-up comedian because of an incident that happened one day at a story meeting for Three's Company, in which one of the show's producers complained about a line of dialogue and said, "Well, Chrissy wouldn't say that.

He was a successful sitcom writer trying to break into stand-up, and prior to the strike, Shore had refused to put him in the regular lineup because she didn't think he was good enough.

"[15] Shandling's onstage persona was an anxiety-ridden, nervous, uptight, conservative man on the verge of a breakdown.

[16] After a couple of years on the road, he was booked by a talent scout from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson to appear as a guest in 1981.

Building on a concept that hearkened back to The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, in which George Burns would frequently break the "fourth wall" and speak directly to the audience, Shandling's series went so far as to incorporate the audience and elements of the studio itself into the storylines, calling attention to the show's artifice.

[26] In October 2012, Shandling returned with fellow cast members from The Larry Sanders Show for Entertainment Weekly's Reunions issue, where he was reunited with co-stars Rip Torn, Jeffrey Tambor, Sarah Silverman, Penny Johnson Jerald, Wallace Langham and Mary Lynn Rajskub.

He had supporting roles in Love Affair and Mixed Nuts; Dr. Dolittle (1998), as the voice of a live-action pigeon; the David Rabe play adaptation Hurlyburly (1998); and Trust the Man (2001).

[30] He appeared in Iron Man 2 (2010) as Senator Stern, and reprised the role in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014).

He starred as himself representing Fox Mulder, alongside Téa Leoni as Dana Scully in The X-Files season 7 spoof episode "Hollywood A.D."[31] In February 2010, Shandling was staying at the same Waipio Valley hotel that Conan O'Brien checked into after his departure from The Tonight Show.

[37] In 1977, Shandling was involved in a car crash in Beverly Hills that left him in critical condition for two days and hospitalized for two weeks with a crushed spleen.

[40] He subsequently had her dismissed from The Larry Sanders Show, and she filed a lawsuit against his production company Brillstein Entertainment Partners for sexual discrimination and wrongful termination.

She was in her late 30s and early 40s during their relationship, she wanted children, and Shandling was afraid his kids might be born with cystic fibrosis, the genetic problem that killed his brother Barry.

A Los Angeles Times article reads: His interest in Zen certainly must have primed him for Roy London, the acting teacher who received a "special thanks" credit on every episode of The Larry Sanders Show and whom Shandling calls "the most important man ever in my life".

He felt unwell during a trip to Hawaii for major dental surgery and "had complained of leg pain and shortness of breath at the time.

[74] The LAPD reported that he had suddenly collapsed in his home and was rushed to the hospital, suffering from an apparent medical emergency.

[77] On February 4, 2019, his estate bestowed $15.2 million to benefit medical research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

In his memory, UCLA also has named the Garry Shandling Learning Studio, a 6,400 sq ft (590 m2) multipurpose space in Geffen Hall, the school's medical education building.