How I Met Your Mother Actors You May Not Know Are Dead

Time makes fools of us all. It's hard to believe the classic sitcom "How I Met Your Mother" has been off the air for over 10 years. Despite mixed opinions on how the popular series came to an end, most of the show has held up pretty well. Revolving around a group of New York friends (no, not those "Friends," but kind of like them), "How I Met Your Mother" was an instant success, bolstering the careers of Neil Patrick Harris, Alyson Hannigan, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders, and Josh Radnor.

As one of the best sitcoms ever made, the show's idiosyncratic sense of humor and endearing characters helped it to run for nine seasons, winning several Emmys and spawning a short-lived spinoff, "How I Met Your Father." But sadly, the years since "How I Met Your Mother" ended has been long enough for us to lose several of its cast members. In addition to some of the biggest names who have died since appearing on the series — Bob Saget's memory looms large over the show as the voiceover of Old Ted narrating the story of his great love to his children — here are some other cast members who you might not realize have died.

Robin (Cobie Smulders) had a brief but delightful career as a teen Canadian pop star in the 1990s — a premise "How I Met Your Mother" milks for all its worth. But as an adult, she's determined to carve out a role for herself as a news anchor on television, which is where we meet Ron Nicolosi as Mike, a camera operator at Metro News 1. He appears in 10 episodes over the course of the series, peppered sporadically throughout the show from Season 2 to Season 8.

Nicolosi made a strong impact during his time on "How I Met Your Mother," but it was one of only a few on-screen credits he had as an actor. He also appeared in small roles (often as a voice actor) in shows like "Just Shoot Me!," "Happy Family," "Stacked," and even the music video for Bo Burnham's "Repeat Stuff." His final credit came in 2015, when he played Anthony in an episode of "Truth Be Told." On July 28, 2020, he died at the age of 62 years old.

In the classic Season 3 Thanksgiving episode "Slapsgiving," Robin is dating an older man. As Ted (Josh Radnor) acknowledges, he's probably in his 40s or so — but what they see when they look at him is an elderly man, played by Orson Bean. His appearance in "How I Met Your Mother" came toward the end of over 50 years in Hollywood.

In 1959, Bean took on the role of Dr. Matthew Smith in the Jimmy Stewart courtroom drama "Anatomy of a Murder." He later voiced the role of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins in the animated film versions of "The Hobbit" and "Return of the King." In 1999, he returned to the big screen to play Dr. Lester in the surreal "Being John Malkovich."

The majority of Bean's career was spent in television, with recurring roles on "The Facts of Life," "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman," (where he spent 145 episodes playing Loren Bray), and "Desperate Housewives." He acted up until 2020, when he played the role of Bruno on Netflix's "Grace and Frankie." Tragically, in February of that year he died from injuries after being hit by two cars in Venice, California. He was on his way to watch a production of "All My Sons" at the Pacific Resident Theatre — at 91 years old, he was an active member of the local theater scene.

When Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Robin are about to tie the knot, they're beset upon by armies of roving elders — their aged family members who have arrived to attend their wedding. One of these relations, Uncle Mort, is played by TV journeyman Lou Cutell. Born and raised in New York City, Cutell got his start in the industry in 1964, with an appearance as Vinnie on an episode of "The Dick Van Dyke Show."

From there, Cutell continued working on both the big and small screens, turning up in "Young Frankenstein," "Pee-wee's Big Adventure," and "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" alongside episodes of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "Dragnet," "The Golden Girls," "The Wonder Years," "Will & Grace," and "Spin City." He also famously played Leo Funkhouser in "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and Dr. Howard Cooperman in "Seinfeld."

Cutell's final performance came in a 2015 episode of "Grey's Anatomy," after which he retired from acting at the age of 85. He died on November 21, 2021, at 91.

Alan Thicke's presence on "How I Met Your Mother" is so powerful, it's hard to believe he only ever appeared in five episodes. He played a version of himself in each episode, as Robin's co-star from her teen idol days in Canada. Whether appearing in the present day or in flashback footage from the music videos and vintage TV footage Barney gleefully shows to the group, he makes a huge impact with very little screentime.

Before "How I Met Your Mother," Thicke was best known for his work as Jason Seaver on the popular family sitcom "Growing Pains," which aired from 1985 to 1992 and helped launch the career of a young Leonardo DiCaprio, as well as its two reunion films in the early 2000s. Off-screen, Thicke was a successful theme song writer — he composed the memorable themes for shows like "The Facts of Life" and "Diff'rent Strokes." His son, Robin Thicke, followed in his footsteps as a musician.

In 2016, Thicke collapsed in the middle of a hockey game, dying just hours later from an aortic dissection at the age of 69. Upon the announcement of his death, his ex-wife Gloria Loring memorialized him (via The New York Times), saying that "he died the way any good Canadian should — playing hockey with his son."

Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan) have been together for a long time — pretty much since the beginning of college — and have gotten up to a lot of youthful hijinks. But by the time the Season 4 episode "Three Days of Snow" rolls around, they've decided to retire one of their longest-running traditions: Every time Lily returns from a trip, she brings a six-pack of beer back for Marshall, and Marshall meets her at the airport with a sign. After a conversation with her fellow passenger Thelma (Pat Crawford Brown), Lily decides she isn't as ready to abandon the ritual as she thought.

Born in the 1920s, Brown got a comparatively late start on her on-screen acting career — her first credit came in 1985, when she was 56, having worked as an English teacher for 20 years. But from there on out, she stayed booked and busy, with appearances on "Moonlighting," "Quantum Leap," "Murder, She Wrote," "The Wonder Years," "Murphy Brown," "ER," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Community," and "Parks and Recreation."

Brown had several recurring roles as well — she had a 16-episode run on "Coach" as Mrs. Thorkelson, and played Ida Greenberg on 27 episodes on "Desperate Housewives." She even made her presence known on the big screen, with appearances in films like "The Rocketeer," "Sister Act," "Reality Bites," "Little Giants," "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion," and "You, Me and Dupree." In 2019, Brown died after a long illness, three days after her 90th birthday.

If there's one text that Barney Stinson is well-versed in, it's the Bro Code. And in one Season 3 episode of "How I Met Your Mother," we get an (alleged) flashback to when it was first written by the Founding Fathers, including Benjamin Franklin, who is played here by Ian Abercrombie. By the time Abercrombie appeared on the show, he had a 50-year acting career under his belt.

Abercrombie worked in film sporadically, with roles in movies like "Warlock," "Army of Darkness," "Addams Family Values," and "The Lost World: Jurassic Park," but he's far better known for his performances on television. He played the role of Justin Pitt, one of Elaine's nightmare bosses on "Seinfeld," for seven episodes in the mid-1990s, in addition to one-off appearances on "Happy Days," "Who's The Boss?," "Twin Peaks," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Star Trek: Voyager," and "Charmed."

In his later career, Abercrombie played Professor Crumbs on "Wizards of Waverly Place" and voiced Chancellor Palpatine on the beloved animated series "Star Wars: The Clone Wars." In 2012, four years after his appearance on "How I Met Your Mother," Abercrombie died from kidney failure in addition to a recent diagnosis of lymphoma. He was 77 years old.

Peter Bogdanovich is far better known for his work behind the camera than as an actor, having been nominated twice at the Academy Awards for best director and best adapted screenplay for "The Last Picture Show." But his career has been peppered with a few on-screen performances, including a brief turn in "How I Met Your Mother." When Ted convinces his friends to sneak into a swanky party, he finds a bunch of intellectual elites discussing all the topics he's been dying to chat about with someone — including Bogdanovich, who is sharing his thoughts on the auteur theory.

Aside from "The Last Picture Show," Bogdanovich directed (among many others) "Paper Moon," "Mask," and "What's Up, Doc?" His final film, "She's Funny That Way," was released in 2014. On January 6, 2022, Bogdanovich died from Parkinson's disease at 82 years old.

For a large chunk of "How I Met Your Mother," Ted works at an architectural firm in New York City, where he butts heads with an obstinate coworker played by Bryan Cranston. But when he complains to his boss, Mr. Brady, it creates an unexpected result — he's given carte blanche to fire him. Mr. Brady is played by William Schallert, a prolific character actor who began his career in the late 1940s. Some of his most significant film credits include "The Incredible Shrinking Man," "Pillow Talk," and "In the Heat of the Night."

Although Schallert had a presence on the silver screen, he was everywhere on television. Over the course of his long career, he appeared on shows like "The Patty Duke Show," (where he played Patty Duke's father on over 100 episodes), "Leave It To Beaver," "The Twilight Zone," "The Andy Griffith Show," "Gunsmoke," "The Waltons," "Quantum Leap," "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," "ER," "My Name Is Earl," and "True Blood."

Schallert's last significant role came in 2011, when he played Max Devore in the miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's "Bag of Bones." He also had a brief uncredited role as an elevator operator in a 2014 episode of "Two Broke Girls." His long career and commitment to the acting community landed him a stint as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1979 to 1981. On May 8, 2016, Schallert died at the age of 93.