Found unresponsive in his hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando January 9, Saget was pronounced dead at the scene by deputies, according to a tweet from the Orange County Sheriff’s office. No signs of foul play or drug use were found. Saget first rose to fame as Danny Tanner, the widowed father of three on “Full House,” a role he played for all eight seasons and then reprised for five seasons of the Netflix revival “Fuller House.” Concurrently, Saget served as the long-running host of “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” cementing his status as America’s TV dad in the late ’80s and early ’90s. But Saget’s own brand of comedy leaned more to the outrageous and raunchy than his squeaky-clean image as single dad and morning show co-anchor Danny Tanner; Saget even titled his 2014 book “Dirty Daddy.” But that didn’t stop the father roles from coming, including one season starring on 2001 sitcom “Raising Dad” and as the voice of the future Ted Mosby for the duration of “How I Met Your Mother.”
Saget was born May 17, 1956, in Philadelphia. Initially planning to be a doctor, he pursued performing at the urging of his high school English teacher, attending Temple University’s film school. After a handful of small roles in film and guest spots on television, he had a short tenure on CBS’ “The Morning Show,” later writing that he was fired for making an off-color joke on air. “I was too hot for morning television,” he admitted during a Q&A pegged to the publication of “Dirty Daddy.” “Mariette Hartley was the host and she said, ‘Are you a type A person?’ And I said, ‘Yes, but I’m working on my A-nus.’ I said that, I wasn’t thinking and she said, ‘Go to your room, Bob.’ They sent me to — it was a 12-minute commercial break. I had to wait behind the set for 12 minutes. The following week I was just on the steps going, ‘It’s five minutes after the hour.’” Later that year he was cast in “Full House.” He had been the producers’ first choice for the role but he was only able to accept because he was fired from “The Morning Show.” Most recently, Saget was on tour with his stand-up act. He performed in Jacksonville the night of January 8, tweeting about it and his appreciative audience just hours before his death. He is survived by his wife Kelly Rizzo, who he married in 2018, and his three children. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
