LOS ANGELES (AFP).- Actor turned radio talk show host Jerry Doyle, who found fame on sci-fi series "Babylon 5," has died at the age of 60, his family announced on Thursday.

The New York native, who was found in his Las Vegas home on Wednesday, appeared in all five seasons of the 1990s show as Chief Warrant Officer Michael Garibaldi.

"The family of Jerry Doyle is sad to announce Jerry's passing. The cause of death is unknown at this time," they said in a statement circulated on social media.

After more than 100 "Babylon" episodes between 1994 and 1998, Doyle turned to radio as the host of nationally syndicated current affairs program "The Jerry Doyle Show" and founder of the Epic Times website.

"Babylon 5" creator J. Michael Straczynski paid tribute to Doyle in a piece for the site, joking that "politically, Jerry was just to the right of Attila the Hun."  

Straczynski revealed that he helped fund Doyle's unsuccessful run for Congress as a Republican in 2000, despite their political differences, because he respected the actor's professionalism.

"It is another loss in a string of losses that I cannot understand. Of the main cast, we have lost Richard Biggs, Michael O'Hare, Andreas Katsulas, Jeff Conaway, and now Jerry Doyle, and I'm goddamned tired of it," he wrote.

"Babylon 5" producer John Copeland described Doyle as "a consummate professional" who was "always ready with a joke or playful remark to the crew."

"He was a great person to have on set and work with. I am glad to have been able to call Jerry one of my friends," he added.

Doyle was raised in New York by his adoptive parents, a police officer and a housewife, went to school in New Jersey and became a commercial pilot after graduating in aeronautics from Embry-Riddle University.

He switched careers to stockbroking on Wall Street, but felt he still hadn't found his niche and moved to Hollywood to pursue an acting career.

Doyle landed his most famous role after securing parts as Bruce Willis's on-screen brother in "Moonlighting" and as a lawyer in the soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful." 

"I never realized that growing up in Brooklyn, flying jets, working on Wall Street and starring in a sci-fi series was the prerequisite for the fast-paced demands of talk radio," he said on his online profile for the Las Vegas-based KDWN radio station.



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