Legendary comedian Jerry Lewis passed away on Sunday. "The Nutty Professor" was 91.

Axar.az reports that the longtime Las Vegas resident, Lewis had been beset for many years with various ailments, including heart attacks, an inflammatory lung disorder and chronic back pain.

He was hospitalized in June for treatment of a urinary tract infection.

Lewis sprang to fame in the 1950s as a zany comic performer in nightclubs, on television and in the movies, launching his act as the cross-eyed sidekick of the suave singer Dean Martin. Lewis went on to star in more than 45 films in a career spanning five decades.

He also was closely associated with his annual Labor Day telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, which he began hosting in 1952. He retired from that show in 2011.