Michael Levin, an actor best known for appearing in Ryan’s Hope, has died at the age of 90.
The late star portrayed fiery reporter Jack Fenelli on the ABC daytime soap opera for over 13 years.
He appeared in 1,074 episodes of the much-loved show, including its very first and last.
Ryan’s Hope ran from July 1975 until January 1989, and Levin starred alongside Helen Gallagher and Bernard Barrow, who played wife and husband Johnny and Maeve Ryan and owned a tavern across the street from a Manhattan hospital.
Levin’s character was known for exposing a blackmail scandal in the Ryan family, and became a love interest of the couple’s daughter, played by Kate Mulgrew.
Confirming the sad news of Levin’s death, his son told The Hollywood Reporter that he died of natural causes on January 6 while at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, New York.
Throughout his career, Levin received several honours.
He was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for outstanding actor for his work in the drama three years in a row, from 1978 until 1980.
Even much later down the line in 2010, his work was being recognised, as he appeared in We Love Soap’s 50 Greatest Soap Actors of all time list, coming in at number 24.
Levin didn’t only appear in one soap, though, as he also starred in two other daytime dramas, playing John Eldridge in As the World Turns and Dr. Tim Gould in All My Children.
Other TV shows on his CV included episodes of N.Y.P.D., The Equaliser, Law & Order, and New York News.
Levin had a run in Broadway as well, taking to the stage in 1965 in The Royal Hunt of the Sun.
Then in 1970, he appeared in three plays, including Tennessee Williams’ Camino Real, opposite the one and only Al Pacino, Sam Shepard’s Operation Sidewinder, and Bertolt Brecht’s The Good Woman of Setzuan.
In recent years before his death, he enjoyed woodworking.
The Minneapolis-born star of stage and screen is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, sons Jason and Aaron, his and grandchildren Veronica and Nico.
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