'Odd Couple' star Jack Klugman dead at 90

'Odd Couple' star Jack Klugman dead at 90

Michael N. Todaro/Getty Images

Jack Klugman attends the opening night of 'Lombardi' on Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theatre in 2010. 

Jack Klugman, the legendary television actor best known for his role as one half of “The Odd Couple,” has died at age 90.

Klugman died peacefully at his Northridge, Calif. home Monday, with his wife at his side, the Associated Press reported.

Born in rough-and-tumble South Philadelphia to Russian Jewish immigrants, Klugman took the part that made him famous in the 1970s, playing the sloppy, cigar-puffing Oscar Madison opposite Tony Randall as neurotic neat freak Felix Unger.

In the show, the quirky pair shared a Manhattan apartment and a dysfunctional relationship that amused legions of ABC viewers for five goofy seasons.

Klugman won two Emmy Awards and earned a Golden Globe as Oscar, a sports journalist for the New York Times.

"Quincy, M.E." came next, in 1975 on NBC, with Klugman cast in the title role as a tough Los Angeles County coroner with a gift for solving crimes.

The long-running program was the precursor to shows such as “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and other forensic dramas.

Before his T.V. career got going, Klugman â€" the son of a house painter father and hat maker mother â€" appeared in several films, including “12 Angry Men.”

The last surviving actor from the classic courtroom drama lost his voice to throat cancer in the 1980s, but trained himself to speak again.