Ed Gale, actor who played Chucky in 'Child's Play,' dies at 61

Ed Gale, the stunt actor who physically played the killer doll Chucky in the first two "Child's Play" movies and "Bride of Chucky," has died, his family announced.

Ed Gale, the stunt actor who physically played the killer doll Chucky in the first two "Child's Play" movies and "Bride of Chucky," has died, his family announced. He was 61.

"Ed Gale has taken his final bow and is now headlining in the afterlife," Kayse Gale, his niece, said in a Facebook post Tuesday.

Gale was hospitalized a few days before his death and was having difficulty breathing, Cindy Osbrink, his representative, told NBC News on Wednesday. He was being moved into hospice care when he died Tuesday morning in Los Angeles.

One of Gale's closest friends traveled from the East Coast to meet with him one more time before his death. "I think he was waiting for the friend," Osbrink said.

Born in Plainwell, Michigan, in 1963, Gale went to California when he was 20 "with $41 and a dream, and he never looked back," his niece wrote.