Elfin, frenzied exercise guru Richard Simmons, 76, died at his home on July 13, according to the usually reliable TMZ. The once-overweight Simmons opened his first exercise salon in the 1970s, and set himself apart with his camp-as-a-row-of-tents personality, his workout videos, frequent TV appearances, and maniacal enthusiasm. Simmons was a regular on talk shows from the early 1980s through the early 2020s; his videos (later DVDs) and books were best-sellers, often aimed at the non-gym crowd: Sweatin’ to the Oldies, Super Tonin’, Shimmy into Shape, Wicked Workout, Country Cardio and the like. “I consider myself a court jester,” Simmons once said, but his relentless cheerleading was not an act: “I get an abundance of e-mail every day, some say, ‘dear Richard, can you call my husband, he weighs 400 pounds,’ or, ‘my 14-year-old is 200 pounds,’ or, ‘I just got divorced, no one wants me, I am 500 pounds.’ So I pick up the phone and I call people.”
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