Gay Fast Times at Ridgemont High Actor Taylor Negron Has Died

Actor and comedian Taylor Negron, who first rose to fame as the pizza guy on Fast Times at Ridgemont High, has died after a long battle with cancer, according to Deadline.

Taylor's cousin Chuck Negron (from the band Three Dog Night) posted a teary-eyed video announcing, "We just lost a wonderful man, my cousin Taylor Negron."

The 57-year-old actor started doing stand-up in high school, interned for and learned from Lucille Ball when he was only 19 , and made his acting debut in the 1982 comedy Young Doctors in Love. Soon came other roles -- Fast Times, Stuart Little, Easy Money, Angels in the Outfield, Nothing But Trouble, and, notably, as the bad guy in Bruce Willis's The Last Boy Scout.

He was a regular guest star on television as well, including Seinfeld, The Hughleys, Hollywood Squares, ER, Party of Five, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and The Wizards of Waverly Place, among others. He also appeared at LGBT pride events and on stage with gay performers.

Taylor (below) at a fundraiser for The Actors Fund in 2014 (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz)

Deadline reports that the out gay actor -- a fixture in the Los Angeles comedy scene -- had recently been appearing at "Un-Cabaret (where he is considered one of the monologue's shows original members), The Moth and Comedy Central Stage's Sit-n-Spin among many other shows. He also performed in fellow comedians' projects such as Melinda Hill's web series Romantic Encounters. Negron won best award for the series from LA webfest."

Here's Taylor at a Pride week fundraiser