Michael Levin, Ryan's Hope Soap Opera Star, Dead at 90
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Michael Levin, an actor best known for playing reporter Jack Fenelli on the ABC daytime soap opera Ryan's Hope, has died. He was 90.
Levin's son, Jason Levin, confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the actor died on Jan. 6 at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, New York, due to natural causes.
The popular drama Ryan's Hope followed characters Johnny and Maeve Ryan, who ran a bar called Ryan's, along with their children in New York City. The show ran for 13 seasons from 1975 to 1989, and Levin appeared in 1,075 episodes, according to IMDB.
In the show, Levin's character falls for the titular couple's daughter Mary, played by Kate Mulgrew, and eventually marries into the family. Their love story was an important plot point throughout many of the show's seasons, and the duo became one of daytime soap opera's most beloved couples.
The role earned Levin three Daytime Emmy nominations for outstanding actor in a daytime drama series in 1978, 1979 and 1980.
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Levin was born in Minneapolis on Dec. 8, 1932, and later worked on his craft at Minneapolis' Guthrie Theater, where his son told The Hollywood Reporter that he acted alongside Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy.
He eventually moved to California and attended acting classes with Jack Nicholson and Robert Blake, per IMDB. He also served two years in the U.S. Navy and had a penchant for woodworking.
Alongside his role in Ryan's Hope, Levin has also appeared in episodes of the daytime soaps All My Children and As The World Turns, as well as primetime series including Law & Order, N.Y.P.D. and The Equalizer.
He also starred in several Broadway shows such as The Royal Hunt of the Sun, Sam Shepard's Operation Sidewinder, Bertolt Brecht's The Good Woman of Setzuan and Camino Real, in which he starred with Al Pacino, per THR.
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"I am very happy acting, and I am very happy when I am working," Levin said in 1978 to Rona Barrett's Daytimers Magazine. "But that is only when I am working. I also find that about ninety percent of what is available for an actor isn't all that good. I don't like doing commercials, and I don't like doing bad plays."
Levin is now survived by his wife, Elizabeth, sons Jason and Aaron, and grandchildren Veronica and Nico, per THR.
