'The Office' Actor Hugh Dane Has Died & Twitter Is Mourning Dunder Mifflin's Security Guard

One of the great things about The Office is how much you grow to love each and every character, regardless of how much time they appear on screen. In fact, some of the recurring cast members became fan-favorites, including Hank the security guard on The Office, who popped up every once in a while to provide some extra humor to the episode. Sadly, Hugh Dane, the actor who played The Office's Hank, has died, as confirmed by Variety. He was 75.

So far, the cause of the actor's death has not been reported, but Rainn Wilson, who played Dwight Schrute on the series, shared the sad news via Twitter on Monday, June 4. Wilson paid homage to his former colleague and friend with a very sweet message in his honor. His tweet read:

"RIP Hugh Dane, aka Hank the security guard. He was one of the greats. So kind, funny, talented. We will all miss him. Donations can be made in his name to: innercityculturalcenter.org"

Wilson also shared an iconic scene from the series, in which the no-nonsense Hank was forced to deal with Dwight joining the security team. So far, Wilson is the only member of The Office family to comment on Dane's passing, though, given the closeness of the cast, the actor will no doubt be missed by all.

Fans of The Office have been sharing their sadness over Dane's passing on Twitter. Some preferred to pay tribute with a few kind words, while others chose to showcase some of their favorite Hank moments.

Of course, Dane's career extends far beyond his memorable appearances on The Office, though, that is by far the role he will be most remembered for. But those amazing 22 episodes (that's right, Dane appeared in 22 episodes of the comedy) are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his impressive résumé as an actor. As Reddit user tcush89 pointed out, Dane played Nelson the barber in an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air back in the early '90s.

It doesn't end there, though. Dane made cameos throughout a huge chunk of some of your favorite TGIF shows. He was Coach on Boy Meets World, Xavier on Hangin' With Mr. Cooper, and Walter from Sister, Sister. Dane was also Jim on an episode of Friends. (If you're interested in checking it out, the name of the episode is called "The One with the Baby on the Bus.")

It's almost impossible to try and pick a favorite episode of The Office that Dane's Hank was a part of. There was, of course, the one time in "Night Out" when the Dunder Mifflin gang got stuck in the office because Jim forgot to tell the security guard (Hank) that they were working late. The locked gates prevented anyone from being able to leave, so Jim kept calling Hank to get up late at night and drive over to let them out. However, by the time he gets there, the cleaning crew had unlocked the gate, so Hank went through all of that for nothing.

Then, there was "The Surplus," where Michael couldn't decide whether to get a new copier or new chairs for the office with the surplus of money they had left over. Not wanting to have to make such a big decision and have half the people in the office upset with him, Michael called on Hank to weigh in on the matter.

There are countless other moments to choose from, which only goes to show what an important part he played in this iconic series. It's heartbreaking to hear that he's gone, but it's comforting to know that part of him will live on forever as the protector of Dunder Mifflin.