Richard Biggs dies

I've just gotten online after being disconnected (voluntarily) all weekend. And I'm stunned to see that Richard Biggs--Dr. Stephen Franklin from Babylon 5 has died. This was posted yesterday at the Babylon 5 newsgroup:

-------- Original Message --------
From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Subject: Today We Lost Richard Biggs
Date: Sat, 22 May 2004 23:43:05 +0000 (UTC)

I was awakened today with several phone calls from cast members and Doug
to pass along the terrible news that this morning, Richard Biggs passed
away.

We're still gathering information, so take none of this as firm word,
but what seems to have happened, happened quickly. He woke up, got up
out of bed...and went down. The paramedics who showed up suggested it
was either an aneurysm or a massive stroke.

His family members have been informed, and all of the the cast have, as
far as we can determine, also been informed.

This is a terrible loss for all of us. Richard was a consummate
professional but more than that he was an honorable, stand-up guy. If
he gave you his word on something, you never had to wonder about it
afterward. He was always helpful and supportive of all the cast, even
those who only came in for one episode, always with a ready smile and
determined to do whatever it took to make the scene work. He was, quite
simply, a terrific guy, and everyone here is just devastated at the news.

More word as this develops. We may try to have some kind of fund raiser
to help give whatever assistance may be helpful for his kids.

We all miss him terribly.

jms

This is quite strange for me. I knew Richard Biggs. I served as his guest-host at AggieCon a few years back. He was an incredibly likeable guy. Friendly, approachable and all too willing to do anything to help out the convention. He actually won the Miss Aggiecon contest, to the howls of delight of the gathered mob. I've got an autographed photo of him from that weekend. I drove him all over College Station. It never felt like I was driving around a "Hollywood Star." He was just a regular Joe, hanging out, looking to enjoy himself. Thursday night, the first night of the convention, we all went out to eat at the now-defunct Tom's Barbecue. While we were chowing down on ribs and brisket served on butcher paper, a number of pretty co-ed waitresses kept coming by and looking at out group. Finally, one worked up the nerve to come up and ask him if he was really the actor who played on Days of Our Lives. The man had legions of fans in two different genres!

He was only 43. Man, this is depressing. He will be missed...

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