John Gabriel, an actor and singer best known for his role as Dr. Seneca Beaulac on the ABC soap opera “Ryan’s Hope,” has died. He was 90.
“It is with an unspeakably heavy heart that I share the news of my father’s passing,” Gabriel’s daughter, actress Andrea Gabriel, announced in an Instagram post Sunday, which included a headshot of her father and a photo of him walking her own the aisle on her wedding day. “John Gabriel was my hero, my role model, and my champion, but above all, my daddy. … I will love you forever.”
Andrea Gabriel did not provide further details on her father’s death, including the cause of his passing.
Gabriel (pictured above, left), played Dr. Seneca Beaulac, the chief of staff at New York’s Riverside Hospital, on ABC’s “Ryan’s Hope” for 10 years, from 1975-1985, and again at the end of its run, from 1988-1989. In 1980, he received an Emmy nod for his performance on the daytime soap.
He had the part of The Professor on the original “Gilligan’s Island” pilot, but lost the role to Russell Johnson when the show was picked up to series at CBS.
Gabriel’s other notable small-screen credits include “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Seinfeld,” “Murder, She Wrote,” “Law & Order,” “General Hospital,” “The Bold and the Beautiful,” “Days of Our Lives,” “77 Sunset Strip” and “The Flying Nun.”
On the film side, Gabriel appeared in moves like “El Dorado,” for which he co-wrote the title song with Nelson Riddle, “The Young Lions,” “The Hunters.
Gabriel was born May 25, 1931, in Niagara Falls, New York. At the time of his passing, he had been married to “All My Children” actress Sandy Gabriel for 52 years.
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