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Stuart Damon, Alan Quartermaine Actor on ‘General Hospital,’ Dead at 84

Fans may remember Stuart Damon as Dr. Alan Quartermaine from “General Hospital.” Tragically, the actor passed away at the age of 84 on Tuesday. According to George Pennacchio of ABC News, the experienced soap opera actor was combating renal failure.

Stuart Damon had been acting since the early 1960s. In a career spanning five decades, he played a wide array of characters. None, however, are nearly as iconic as his role of Dr. Alan Quartermaine on “General Hospital” and “Port Charles.”

From 1977 to 2013, Stuart Damon appeared in over 380 episodes of “General Hospital.” His character died on the show in the 2007 season. But Damon continued to make appearances in the form of flashbacks and ghosts. He appeared on the show as recently as 2013.

Stuart Damon was celebrated for the performances he turned in on the long-running soap opera. In fact, he won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 1999. He was nominated for the award six other times, as well.

In a 1981 interview with the Boston Globe, Damon talked about how different he was from his character on “General Hospital.”

“I’m nothing like Quartermaine. I’ve been known to show up on the set wearing running shorts, a baseball cap worn sideways, speaking with a pronounced lisp. The morning rehearsal is the time to be silly,” Damon said. “He’s really one of the most interesting characters around. He’s loving one day; but he’s also a failed murderer who wound up in a hospital on two occasions…”

Stuart Damon’s Career Beyond ‘General Hospital’

Despite the role of Dr. Alan Quartermaine being his most recognizable, Damon was a talented actor, and he made quite an impact on TV and Broadway.

He starred in the Rogers and Sondheim Broadway musical Do I Hear A Waltz as Eddie Yeager. And again in a Rogers work when he played the Prince in the 1965 TV adaptation of Cinderella.

And even though “General Hospital” is his soap opera claim to fame, he made the rounds on a few other iconic soaps, too. In 2010, Damon appeared on more than 20 episodes of “Days of Our Lives” and “As the World Turns.”

His TV credits also include the likes of “Yanks Go Home,” “Fantasy Island,” and “The Champions.”

As Craig Stirling on “The Champions,” Damon appeared in 30 episodes of the late 1960s science fiction show. Though short-lived, the show followed a group of UN agents who got rescued post-crash by an advanced civilization hiding in the Himalayan mountains of Tibet.

“General Hospital” is almost 60 seasons and 7,000 episodes into its run. And Stuart Damon played a significant role in bringing it this far. The unfortunate reality is that many of these iconic soap operas outlive the stars who brought them to prominence in the first place. In any case, they benefitted from having Stuart Damon involved.

He is survived by his wife, Deirdre Ann Ottewill, and their two children.