Friends fans have been left devastated by the news James Michael Tyler, who played Gunther, has died aged 59 after battling prostate cancer.
The star passed away peacefully on Sunday morning at his home in Los Angeles following a battle with stage 4 prostate cancer, TMZ reports.
His character was the manager at Central Perk, the coffee shop in which Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston) worked, and he was completely in love with her.
Originally only intended to be a background character with no spoken lines, Tyler's role of Gunther became a fan favourite and provided some of the sitcom's most memorable and hilarious moments.
But Tyler actually feared Gunther would become "hated" after he informed Rachel that her boyfriend Ross (David Schwimmer) had slept with someone else, in a bid to split them up for good.
"Oh my goodness. When I read that script, I had basically just been established as a character and I thought, ‘Man, now Gunther’s gonna be the most despised character in the history of sitcoms,'" Tyler told RadioTimes.
"A lot of fans did not like that Gunther did that."
But Gunther remained a popular character despite this, right up until the show wrapped in 2004.
Let's take a look at some of the finest scenes Gunther brought to the beloved show.
The one where he bought Rachel's cat
In 'The One With The Ball', Rachel buys a hairless sphynx cat called Mrs Whiskerson, because her grandmother had the same breed when she was a kid.
But Rachel's cat isn't nowhere near as affectionate and keeps scratching her.
Her arms ripped to ribbons by the aggressive cat, Rachel is at her wits' end and tries to sell Mrs Whiskerson for the same eye-watering price she bought her - $1,000.
But Rachel cannot find a willing bidder anywhere on the street where she desperately tries to flog the cat.
At the end of the episode, she finally finds a buyer - Gunther, who has been in love with Rachel for years.
He takes Mrs Whiskerson off Rachel's bleeding hands, paying $1,500 and hoping this means she will pay them a visit.
"So, what is this? Some kind of snake or something?" a baffled Gunther asks Ross (David Schwimmer) upon seeing the animal.
Tyler himself even told Entertainment Weekly this was probably Gunther's funniest scene.
The one where he 'drops a cup'
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Gunther finally works up the courage to ask Rachel out on a date in series three.
But while he's brainstorming the best way to do it, Mark Robinson swoops in and beats him to it - much to Gunther's fury.
As Gunther watches Robinson flirt with Rachel, he suddenly disappears out to the back of the coffee shop.
Viewers then hear plates smash as Gunther seemingly has a meltdown in the kitchen, before he returns calmly.
"I dropped a cup," he explains.
The one where Rachel quits
Gunther is inconsolable when Rachel reveals she is quitting her job in Central Perk coffee shop, which he manages.
She makes a speech in front of her pals and the customers after she lands her dream job working in fashion.
"This is my last night working here, and I just want to say that I made some really good friends here, and it's time to move on," she says.
Heartbroken, Gunther storms off to the back in tears, but Rachel doesn't even appear to notice and carries on speaking, admitting she is relieved she won't ever have to make coffee again.
However, the next shot hilariously reveals she does indeed still have to make coffee in her new job.
Spin the Bottle
Rachel invites Gunther to a party she is throwing to say goodbye to Ross's girlfriend, Emily, who is going back to England.
In reality, the party is a ruse so she can seduce a man called Joshua, who she met at work.
She gets everyone to play spin the bottle so she can kiss Joshua, and while she's going over the rules, she spins the bottle which lands on Gunther accidentally.
He thinks this is finally his chance to kiss his love and leans in, puckering up - but Rachel pulls away, leaving him hanging and utterly mortified.
The one where he confesses his love to Rachel
Gunther attempts several times to make his adoration for Rachel known.
On the final episode of the show, Rachel announces that she is moving to Paris, and Ross concocts a plan to try to persuade her to stay.
He decides he will confess his love for her in Central Perk in a grand gesture - but Gunther beats him to it.
He tells Rachel he's been in love with her for 10 years and will miss her terribly, while Ross looks on, furious and baffled that his moment has been stolen.
"I just have to tell you, I love you,' says Gunther.
"I don't know if that changes your plans at all, but I thought you should know."
Rachel awkwardly responds that she loves Gunther back - but only as a friend - before giving him a kiss on the cheek.
The one where he insults Ross in Dutch
In series eight, Ross tries to get Rachel an apartment in his building, and decides to learn some Dutch in order to impress the owner.
Brushing up on the language in Central Perk, Ross orders a coffee and Gunther brings it to him.
Ross thanks Gunther in Dutch and is shocked when Gunther replies in perfect Dutch right back - but Ross dismisses him, saying: "Yeah, we're done."
Furious, Gunther retorts by calling Ross an "ezel" meaning donkey or ass in Dutch.
He already can't stand Ross because he is in an on-off relationship with Rachel, who Gunther is totally in love with.
Ross looks up the translation in his book and realises what Gunther called him, using the insult right back at him.
Gunther responds "Jij hebt seks met ezels" meaning "you have sex with donkeys".
Tyler later told Parade he was delighted the scene was included in the final cut as he hadn't expected it to be.
"It really surprised me that it made it to primetime. Fantastic," he chuckled.
It was far from Gunther's only scene where he was shady to Ross.
Other favourites include his delighted expression when Ross swings a punch at Joey (Matt LeBlanc) but misses, punching a hole in the wall instead.
Another time, Ross orders a coffee from a seething, jealous Gunther, who bitterly replies: "Oh, like you don't already have everything?"
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