Comedian Louie Anderson's Life in Photos

Louie Anderson was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on March 24, 1963, and was the second youngest of 11 children.

In 1984, the comedian made his network debut on The Tonight Show, then hosted by Johnny Carson. Before his appearance on the late-night show, he had been a writer for stand-up comedian Henny Youngmen.

Recognize any of these famous faces? In 1992, Anderson joined fellow comedians Yakov Smirnoff, Jeff Altman, Tim Thomerson Bob Saget, Mitzi Shore, Pauly Shore and Jim Carrey to celebrate famed comedy club The Comedy Store's 20th birthday. The Los Angeles venue is known for being a hot spot for young comics.

On Jan. 20, friend and fellow comedian Pauly Shore tweeted that he had been to visit Anderson, who was in the hospital with complications from blood cancer. He wrote, "Attention comedians and @TheComedyStore alumni's I say this with a heavy heart just left the hospital in Las Vegas where Louie Anderson his sisters and close friend were kind enough to let me say my goodbyes he's still with us but keep him in your prayers."

In 1995, Anderson created Life with Louie, an animated cartoon series that was based on his own experience growing up with 10 siblings. It ran for three years and earned the comedian two Daytime Emmy Awards for outstanding performer in an animated program.

He followed that up with The Louie Show in 1996, though the show only ran for six episodes before being cancelled.

Anderson made plenty of cameos on film and television throughout his career, including one memorable role as a singing telegram in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. He also appeared in shows such as Ally McBeal, Grace Under Fire, Scrubs, Search Party, Young Sheldon and had a role in Coming to America (both the 1988 film and the 2021 sequel). He even competed on an episode of Weakest Link in 2001!

In 1999, Anderson landed a hosting gig on Family Feud, and would continue hosting until 2002. He returned to the game show in 2017 to compete in a round of Celebrity Family Feud.

Anderson, who was known for his self-deprecating humor, performed his stand-up show, Louie: Larger Than Life from 2003 to 2012 in Las Vegas, and released a new comedy special, Louie Anderson: Big Baby Boomer in 2012.

In 2016 — after being nominated for three consecutive years —Anderson won the outstanding supporting actor Emmy for his role as Christine Baskets in Baskets.

Anderson was also a panelist on Funny You Should Ask from September 2018 to 2020, when the show went on hiatus.

On top of his stand-up and acting career, Anderson also managed to write four books: The F Word: How to Survive Your Family; Dear Dad: Letters from an Adult Child; Hey Mom: Stories for My Mother, But You Can Read Them Too; and Goodbye Jumbo... Hello Cruel World.

On Jan. 18, 2022, Anderson's longtime publicist told Rolling Stone, "Iconic comedian Louie Anderson is currently in a Las Vegas hospital being treated for diffuse large B cell lymphoma, a form of cancer."

Days later, on Jan. 22, PEOPLE confirmed that the actor had died in a Las Vegas hospital. He was 68.