(CNN) - Larry Speakes, who served as the acting White House press secretary under President Ronald Reagan, died Friday morning at his home in Cleveland, Mississippi, following a lengthy illness, the Bolivar County coroner said. He was 74, coroner Nate Brown said.
Speakes took over the duties as acting White House press secretary after James Brady, the press secretary, was shot during an assassination attempt on Reagan on March 30,1981.