Wayne Northrop, a star of soap operas of daytime and primetime, has died at age 77.
The Dynasty and Days of Our Lives actor died on Friday, November 29, at a Motion Picture and Television home in Woodland Hills, California, according to publicist Cynthia Snyder.
General Hospital star Lynn Herring, Northrop’s wife since 1981, said in a statement that her husband was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease six years ago. “He took his last breath in the arms of his family,” Herring added. “We wish to thank the most caring and amazing place, The Motion Picture and Television Home, for taking such great care of him.”
Born on April 12, 1947, and raised in the small town of Sumner, Washington, Northrop earned a B.A. in communications from the University of Washington. Then he took acting classes at Seattle Community College — having only acted in his high school’s senior class revue by that point — and linked up with the newly-formed Los Angeles Actors’ Theatre. He soon booked his first television role, a small part in an episode of Police Story.
After one-off appearances in Eight Is Enough, Baretta, The Waltons, Northrop landed the part of chauffeur Michael Culhane on Dynasty, playing the part in nearly three dozen episodes across the primetime ABC soap’s first and seventh seasons.
And in 1981, Northrop joined Days of Our Lives, originating the part of Roman Brady. He played that role until 1984 and again from 1991 to 1994. He returned to the NBC daytime drama in 2005 in the role of Alex North.
TV Guide/Courtesy: Everett Collection
In his role as Roman on Days, Northrop frequently shared the screen with Deidre Hall (Marlena Evans), who sang his praises in a 2018 Soap Opera Digest interview. “Wayne was always surprising and outrageous, onstage as well as off,” she said. “We were also social friends, so I have had the pleasure of watching him hurl a 30-pound bale of hay [and] carry a frightened calf up a very steep hill. He’s also very good at my passion, jigsaw puzzles. I have been close to Wayne and Lynn for as long as I can remember.”
Between his two Days parts, Northrop joined the General Hospital spinoff Port Charles in 1997, playing Rex Stanton on that ABC soap. His other TV credits include starring roles in the TV movies Guts and Glory: The Bill Johnson Story and You Are the Jury: The State of Arizona vs. Dr. Evan Blake.
Northrop and Herring spent 35 years running a cattle ranch in Raymond, California together, and in 2008, they purchased the town’s oldest house and turned it into a working museum. He was also committed to wildlife and conservation causes and ran his ranch accordingly, Snyder said in an obit for the actor.
“Wayne touched so many people with his sense of humor and wit,” Herring said in her statement. “A husband for 43 years, the best dad ever to his two boys, Hank and Grady, and a rancher who loved his cows and was a friend to many.”
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