Ann Oldenburg

USA TODAY

Legendary actor Edward Herrmann, whose face and voice are familiar from so many roles in TV and film, died Wednesday in New York, according to TMZ and Buzzfeed.

He was 71.

TMZ reports that Herrmann's family says he had been battling brain cancer and had been hospitalized for the last three weeks in New York.

"Edward Herrmann, besides being an accomplished actor, he was also a true gentleman and a scholar, as well as being an incredibly kind and decent man. He will be sorely missed," Herrmann's manager, Robbie Kass, tells USA TODAY in an e-mail confirming his death.

Herrmann, who appeared in episodes of The Good Wife from 2010 to 2013, was maybe best known for his long run as Richard Gilmore on Gilmore Girls.

But he was also known for his Emmy-nominated portrayals of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in made-for-TV movies in the 1970s, as well as for numerous roles in films such as The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) and The Aviator (2004).

More recently, he voiced Roosevelt again for Ken Burns' PBS series, The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, in 2014.

His rich voice was often on TV in historical documentaries and programs on the History Channel, and on PBS in science programs such as Nova. He was also a spokesman for Dodge cars in the 1990s.

Herrmann, who was born in Washington, D.C., but grew up in Grosse Pointe, Mich., graduated from Bucknell University. He was married twice, is survived by his second wife, Star, and two daughters, Ryan and Emma, and a son, Rory, a noted Los Angeles chef.

Contributing: Maria Puente