LOS ANGELES — Actor Mitchell Ryan, known for his roles in “Lethal Weapon,” “Dharma & Greg” and “Dark Shadows,” died Friday in Los Angeles, his agent said. He was 88.
Ryan died of congestive heart failure, his stepdaughter, Denise Freed, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Ryan played heroin-smuggling, retired Gen. Peter McAllister, in the first “Lethal Weapon” movie in 1987; Edward Montgomery, an obnoxious father on “Dharma & Greg;” and Burke Devlin, an ex-con on “Dark Shadows,” the entertainment outlet reported.
Ryan also appeared in “Magnum Force” and “High Plains Drifter,” Variety reported.
Kathryn Leigh Scott, who played several roles on “Dark Shadows,” shared thoughts about Ryan’s death on her Facebook page.
“My sweet, beloved friend Mitch died early this morning,” Scott wrote. “He was a great gift in my life. I cherish my warm memories of his beautiful soul. I’m heartbroken.”
“I was so drunk that year, I barely remember what it was about,” Ryan told TV Guide in 1976 about his role in “Dark Shadows,” a gothic soap opera.
On “Santa Barbara,” Ryan played Anthony Tonell in 36 episodes, Variety reported. He also played the title character, Captain Chase Reddick, in the 1973 police drama “Chase,” according to the website.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ryan played the head of a sanitarium in “Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers” (1995), Hugh Hefner in “Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story” (1981) and Minnie Driver’s father in “Grosse Pointe Blank” (1997).
Ryan’s career included television credits in “The West Wing,” “The Drew Carey Show,” “Wings,” “Murder, She Wrote,” “Executive Suite,” “Dallas” and “Having Babies,” Variety reported.
Ryan published “Fall of a Sparrow,” a 2021 autobiography about life and career as an actor, which included his public struggles with alcoholism and his journey to become sober, Variety reported.
“I’m blessed. I’m blessed that, 30 years a drunk, I’ve managed to live a working actor’s life to be envied. And I’ve lived a great deal of real life while I was at it,” Ryan wrote in the book’s preface. “Sober for the next 30 years, I’m told that I’ve come out of it all a good and useful human being. … In this cynical world of ours, read the work of a man who begins by shouting out his happiness. Because this happiness I speak of isn’t a bright sunshiny yellow. It’s been hard-fought and hard-won.
“Another actor might say, ‘The book’s only as good as my credits.’ Credits, yes, but this is an honest book… More than all, this is a story of a man becoming. I was lucky enough to survive my mistakes.”