Ron Hale, 'Ryan's Hope,' 'General Hospital,' 'Port Charles' Actor, Dies at 78

Ron Hale, a soap opera veteran, has died at 78, six years after announcing his retirement.

Deadline reports he died August 27 in St. George, South Carolina.

Soap star Billy Warlock remembered Hale on X, writing:

Hale was born January 2, 1946, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He attended Furman University in South Carolina, discovering a love of acting. He appeared in plays with Columbia's Trustus Theatre.

After a TV debut on a 1968 episode of "N.Y.P.D.," he made his first foray into soaps on "Search for Tomorrow" (1969).

He shot an appearance in the classic film "All the President's Men" (1976) before kicking off a long, successful stint on "Ryan's Hope" (1975-1989) as Dr. Roger Coleridge. He was nominated for Daytime Emmys in 1979 and 1980 for his work on the show.

Hale had an even longer run on "General Hospital" (1995-2010) and "Port Charles" (1997-2000), playing Mike Corbin.

Some of his other TV appearances included "Matlock" (1989), "MacGyver" (1990), and "Easy" (2016). He gave his last performance in the 2017 film "The Ghost and the Whale," which also included the final on-screen performance of Hitchcock leading lady Tippi Hedren.

In 2018, Hale told Soaps in Depth he had officially retired from the business.

He is survived by his nieces and nephews.