The 'Lethal Weapon' and 'Dharma & Greg' actor was 88

Actor Mitchell Ryan, who had a career spanning more than 50 years in stage, film and television, has died at the age of 88.

Ryan was best known for his appearance in Deadly weaponand for his role in the television sitcom Dharma and Greg.

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Other roles included soap operas Dark shadows in the 1960s and Santa Barbara In the 1980's.

Ryan was born in Cincinnati and served in the United States Navy before pursuing his theater career. For more than a decade, he worked on stage almost every night, on and off Broadway.

His distinctive appearance with a firm jaw and straight hair also landed him roles on screen, his first uncredited role in Robert Mitchum's 1958 film. Thunder Road.

His outstanding performance came in 1966 with Dark shadows, a television drama about the lives of the wealthy Collins family. Ryan played ex-con Burke Devlin for one season, but was fired due to his alcoholism, which he admitted to in his autobiography last year.

He later appeared in Magnum Force, Wanderer of the High Plains And Blueand on the small screen, he plays ruthless Las Vegas businessman Anthony Tonell in the soap opera Santa Barbara.

Ryan's biggest on-screen role came in 1987, when he played general antagonist Peter McAllister opposite Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in the first of the films. Deadly weapon The film grossed over $100 million at the box office worldwide, which Ryan later recalled in an interview as being a huge surprise to everyone involved.

In the 1990s, he played the wealthy patriarch Edward Montgomery in the television sitcom. Dharma and Grega show he appeared on for five years.

Ryan served on the national board of directors of the Screen Actors Guild from 1993 to 2002 and was president of the SAG Foundation from 1999 to 2008.

“We are deeply saddened to say goodbye to Mitch, who was an active and proud member of the Screen Actors Guild for decades,” said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director. “He inspired many people to union service and loved the craft of acting, helping to create many of the Screen Actors Guild Foundation artist programs of the time. We are grateful and better as a union for his dedication.

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