Miguel Ferrer, who brought stern authority to his featured role on CBS' hit NCIS: Los Angeles and, before that, to NBC crime drama Crossing Jordan, has died.
CBS said Ferrer died on Thursday (local time) of cancer at his Los Angeles home. He was 61.
He had played assistant director Owen Granger on NCIS: Los Angeles since 2012.
Before that, he played the chief medical examiner and gruff-but-supportive boss to series star Jill Hennessy for the six seasons of Crossing Jordan.
Ferrer began his career in the early 1980s with guest shots on many TV series.
In 1990 he scored a signature role as FBI Agent Albert Rosenfield on David Lynch's smash series Twin Peaks. He reprised that character for the 1992 movie Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.
He will encore yet again as Agent Rosenfield for Showtime's Twin Peaks revival airing this spring.
Along with TV, Ferrer appeared in more than 40 movies, including RoboCop, where he played the villainous Bob Morton.
A native of Santa Monica, California, Ferrer was the son of Academy Award-winning actor Jose Ferrer and singer-actress Rosemary Clooney, and a cousin of George Clooney.
Before becoming an actor, he was a successful studio musician who played drums in a variety of bands, and toured with his mother and Bing Crosby.
Survivors include his wife Lori and sons Lukas and Rafi.
After news broke of his death there was an outpouring of emotion and reminiscing on Twitter.
Clooney was among the first to pay tribute.
In a statement obtained by Variety, Clooney expressed his family's grief on what he called a historic day for the country.
"Today history will mark giant changes in our world, and lost to most will be that on the same day Miguel Ferrer lost his battle to throat cancer. But not lost to his family," Clooney said.
"Miguel made the world brighter and funnier and his passing is felt so deeply in our family that events of the day, (monumental events), pale in comparison. We love you Miguel. We always will."
Reuters
