The actor, who became famous as “Stanford” in Sex and the City, died at the age of 57.
It’s impossible to see pictures of Willie Garson and not immediately think of Stanford Blatch, his role on the show Sex and the City. He played the gay best friend, which is a cliché of course, but he played him so warmly, with so much wit, that he became the friend you secretly wanted as a spectator. Sure, the role was designed as a crowd favorite from the start, always understanding, always with advice or at least a good saying. Garson knew how to fill it. Stanford, the way he raises the Cosmopolitan glass, his facial expressions and gestures, that is, although he was only a minor character, an integral part of the DNA of this series. So you indulged your character when he finally found the man of his life in the much less watchable SATC films after many wrong dating paths. In the end, Garson stood for the planned one Sex-and-the-City– New edition in front of the camera.
The actor died on Tuesday at the age of 57, his son announced. “We all loved him, and loved working with him so much,” wrote actress Cynthia Nixon, who appeared in Sex and the City the lawyer Miranda plays. “He was infinitely funny on screen and in real life.” Mario Cantone, who played Garson’s husband on the series, wrote on Twitter: “I couldn’t have had a more brilliant TV partner. I’m devastated and just saddened.”