Robert Urich, was an
Emmy Award winning actor best known for his starring roles in
Soap and
Spenser: For Hire and in
Vega$ as
private detective Dan Tanna.
He died at the age of 55 after battling cancer on April 16, 2002. He was 55. He was born in Toronto, Ohio and won a football scholarship to Florida State University. He later earned a master’s degree in broadcast research and management from Michigan State University.
Urich had announced in 1996 that he suffered from synovial cell sarcoma, a rare cancer that attacks the body’s joints. Urich was writing his memoirs, ´An Extraordinary Life with David Dalton, when his health failed.
He had his first television role in the 1973 comedy series Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, and he also appeared in the TV series S.W.A.T. before being cast as Peter Campbell in Soap. He won an Emmy for his narration of the cable documentary U-Boats: Terror on Our Shores. In 1998, he took his turn as the captain in the short-lived remake of The Love Boat.
Urich and his wife, Heather Menzies, established the Heather and Robert Urich Fund for Sarcoma Research at the University of Michigan to fund cancer research after he was diagnosed.