Gilmore Girls dad Edward Herrmann dies at 71 of brain cancer

Edward Herrmann, the towering, melodious-voiced actor who brought Franklin D.Roosevelt to life in films and documentaries, won a Tony Award and charmed audiences as the stuffy dad on TV's Gilmore Girls, has died of brain cancer. He was 71.

The actor, who had been in hospital for weeks, was with his wife, Star, and his three children.

Hermann's favourite role was playing Roosevelt, his son Rory Herrmann said, which he did in projects including the TV movies Eleanor and Franklin (1976) and its sequel Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Year (1977) and in the 1982 movie musical Annie.

His urbane tones were heard on a variety of documentaries and on hundreds of audio books including Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken. He had recently narrated a documentary on cancer, Rory Herrmann said.

He appeared frequently on the big screen, in major films including Reds and The Wolf of Wall Street, and was an acclaimed stage actor whose Tony-winning performance came in 1976 for a revival of Mrs Warren's Profession opposite Lynn Redgrave.

Television was also a home, with recent appearances on The Good Wife and How I Met Your Mother. His best-known role came on the 2000-07 series Gilmore Girls, portraying the patrician father of a single mother, played by Lauren Graham.