Fitness guru Richard Simmons dead at 76

July 13 (UPI) -- Fitness guru, TV personality and author Richard Simmons has died a day after his 76th birthday.

ABC News reported Saturday that the Los Angeles Police Department responded to a 911 call at Simmons' home after his housekeeper discovered Simmons unresponsive.

TMZ said a fall Friday is believed to have contributed to his death and foul play is not suspected at this time.

Simmons was active on the social media platform X Friday, posting: "Thank you...I never got so many messages about my birthday in my life! I am sitting here writing emails. Have a most beautiful rest of your Friday. Love, Richard."

Thank you...I never got so many messages about my birthday in my life! I am sitting here writing emails. Have a most beautiful rest of your Friday. Love, Richard— Richard Simmons (@TheWeightSaint) July 12, 2024

Beloved for his positive spirit and outrageous custom workout gear, Simmons was a prolific cookbook author and fixture on the talk-show circuit in the 1980s and '90s when he was at the height of his fame.

He led exercise classes across the United States and headlined fitness video tapes like "Sweatin' to the Oldies," "Party Off the Pounds," "Blast Off," "Pump and Sweat" "Tonin Uptown" and "Tonin Downtown."

Simmons also played a fictionalized version of himself on dozens of episodes of the soap opera, General Hospital. His other screen credits What Women Want, Hercules: Zero to Hero, All My Children, Evening Shade and The Larry Sanders Show .

Health issues kept him out of the spotlight for about a decade, but Simmons would pop up on social media every once in a while to say he was doing well and just wanted to lead a private life.

Earlier this year, he objected to plans comedian Pauly Shore had to star as him in a feature-length biopic.

"I just got word like everyone else that the beautiful Richard Simmons has passed. I hope you're at peace and twinkling up in the heavens," Shore wrote in a statement on X Saturday.

"Please give my mother Mitzi and my father Sammy a big hug and a kiss for me. You're one of a kind, Richard. An amazing life. An amazing story. They broke the dolphin shorts when they made you. Rest in peace, my friend. Rest in peace."

Simmons' death was announced the same day as that of another 1980s self-help legend, Dr. Ruth Westheimer . She was 96.