GH/Days Vet Stephen Nichols Pays Tribute to Tyler Christopher: ‘My Heart Aches,’ But He Is ‘Finally at Peace’

This one hurts, folks.

Stephen Nichols on Thursday evening shared many deep, and difficult, thoughts about fellow General Hospital and Days of Our Lives alum Tyler Christoper, who died on Oct. 31 at age 50.

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As recounted by TVLine, Nichols and Christopher had many scenes together upon the their joint July 1996 GH debut, as the enigmatic Stefan Cassadine and his “son” (really, nephew) Nikolas, in a banger of a storyline that put the Greeks on a collision course with the iconic Luke and Laura and their own son Lucky.

“This is something I was hoping I would not have to write about, another young man taken. A sweet natured man. An Ohio boy like me. A man who had his demons — another thing we had in common,” Nichols started on Instagram, in a long missive accompanied by a clip of one of their GH scenes. “A young man I called son for the early part of our time together.”

Nichols goes on to recall first meeting Christopher for a GH chemistry read, and how “I felt connected to him immediately. I can’t say enough about the beauty of Tyler Christopher’s work. He was an actor who was all instinct and spontaneity. It seemed effortless for him. I knew I wanted to work with him. I knew he would make me better.”

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Nichols shares that as Christopher sought advice on the work, he once gifted his “green and eager” TV kin a copy of Michael Chekhov’s To the Actor. Some 20 years later, when Christopher turned his fifth Daytime Emmy nod into a first win, he held up that book on stage. “I was thrilled for him, and so touched and honored that he had mentioned our early connection,” Nichols writes.

Nichols acknowledges the well-documented addiction issues that Christopher battled over the years. And while they would at times broach the topic, they “never really got deep into the subject of recovery,” Nichols laments. “I regret that. When I asked how he was doing, he would generally say, ‘good…fine.'”

In 2017, “Tyler called and asked if he could meet me for lunch,” flying into L.A. from the Midwest, Nichols relates. “He told me he had been having a hard time and he was now sober and working to stay that way. He said needed to take care of his kids and he needed a job. I advocated for him, and it took a while, but he finally came over to Days [of Our Lives],” in the role of Stefan DiMera. There, on the NBC soap Nichols again was calling home (as Patch/Steve), “Tyler was doing remarkable work,” he says, “but I could tell that he was unsettled. Again, when I asked how he was doing he said he was good. Looking back, I now know he wasn’t.”

In conclusion, “My heart aches,” Nichols shares, “but all I wish for now, sweet Tyler, is that you are finally at peace. We won’t soon forget you.”

UPDATE: Christopher’s GH mom, daytime-TV icon Genie Francis, also has commented on the actor’s passing, with a short but sweet:

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