Nicolas Coster, Veteran Soap Star, Dead at 89
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Nicolas Coster has died.
The veteran soap star, who is best known for portraying Lionel Lockridge on NBC’s Santa Barbara, died on Monday at the age of 89.
Coster’s daughter, Dinneen Coster, shared the news with the public on Facebook, per Deadline, writing, “There is great sadness in my heart this evening, my father actor Nicolas Coster has passed on in Florida at 9:01 pm in the hospital.”
“Please be inspired by his artistic achievements and know he was a real actor’s actor! I will remember him as always doing his best and being a great father. Rest In Peace,” she wrote.
A cause of death was not specified.
Coster’s most memorable role was the Lockridge family patriarch, a character he played from 1984 through 1993, and one that earned him four Daytime Emmy nominations. However, it was his role as Mayor Jack Madison in the digital soap The Bay that secured him his first Daytime Award win in 2017.
He also brilliantly played a deceptive lawyer in All the President’s Men and the father of Lisa Whelchel’s Blair Warner in The Facts of Life.
The actor had regular roles on popular soaps like Another World, As the World Turns, One Life to Live and All My Children, while also making appearances on primetime television shows such as Wonder Woman, Magnum P.I., T.J. Hooker and Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Most recently, his credits featured a 2021 episode of American Crime Story as well as the 2020 film The Last Exorcist. His final on-screen appearance was a one-episode role on The Rookie: Feds as Joseph Cicero in 2023.
Coster’s former co-star A Martinez—who appeared on Santa Barbara as Cruz Castillo—paid tribute to the late actor on Facebook early Tuesday morning, stating, “It was an honor to work in a company with him, and I’ll always hold his friendship and his sterling strengths as a professional close to heart.”
“Unsolicited one day, he gave me this profoundly useful advice: ‘What you choose to do with a scene doesn’t have to be the probable thing. You can choose any course imaginable –– no matter how unlikely –– as long as it’s possible,’” he concluded.
According to the tribute, Coster is survived by his wife, Elena Coster, and his daughters, Candace and Dinneen. His son Ian passed in 2016.
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