Sex and The City star Willie Garson passed away on September 21, 2021, from pancreatic cancer at the age of 57.

Image Credit: People

Willie Garson, otherwise known as Stanford Blatch, the friend and confidant to Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) in Sex and the City has unfortunately passed after a battle with cancer. Stanford was a regular appearance in both the show and movie and was filming the new Sex and the City follow-up, And Just Like That. Willie had continued to film even while battling his illness.

Born in New Jersey, Garson first began studying acting at the young age of 13, at the Actors Institute in New York. Garson’s first breakout roles were on shows such as “Family Ties” and “Cheers”. Sex and the City may have been Garson’s most famously known role, but he did have frequent appearances on “White Collar”, “NYPD-Blue”, and “Hawaii Five-0”. Over the last four decades, Garson has appeared in over 300 T.V. shows and over 70 movies.

Garson’s first appearance as Stanford was in the pilot of Sex and the City in 1998. Garson’s character of Stanford pushed the door open for the gay community as he discussed sex, dating, rejection, insecurity, and the eternal conundrum of the male mind. In the 2010 Sex and the City 2 film, Stanford finally settles down and marries long-time show nemesis Anthony, which was five years before the Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states.

Image Credit: IMDB

Garson himself was not gay but took on the role hoping to make viewers more loving, accepting, and tolerable. Garson stated that at the time the world was coming out of the AIDS crisis and every representation of gay was dark and spoken about in hushed tones. Garson loved that Stanford’s character was happy, open about himself and hoped that it would create a different perception, it was very different and open to anything else that was being shown at the time.

Garson’s son Nathen, Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kirstin Davis, as well as many of the cast members of shows he had been on shared heartfelt posts about Garson that pay tribute to the amazing person he was.

Garson was a talented actor, loving father, amazing friend, and all-around amazing person. He will be deeply missed by many.

Published by HOLR Magazine.