NEW YORK (AP) — Jerry Douglas, who played handsome family patriarch John Abbott on “The Young and the Restless” for over 30 years, has died.
Douglas died Tuesday after a brief illness, just three days before his 89th birthday, according to a family spokesman.
He last appeared on the CBS daytime soap opera in 2016.
“Our show was lucky to have an actor of his caliber join the Y&R cast and introduce the audience to the iconic Abbott family,” Anthony Morina, executive producer of “The Young and the Restless,” said in a statement.
“His contribution to the legacy of Y&R as Abbott family patriarch, John Abbott is still felt to this day. He will be sorely missed.”
Born Jerry Rubenstein, he was a Chelsea, Massachusetts, native who attended Brandeis University on a football scholarship but decided upon an acting career after graduation. His hundreds of credits include the films “JFK” and “Mommie Dearest” and the TV series “Melrose Place” and “Barnaby Jones.”
He was best known for “The Young and the Restless,” which he joined in 1982 as the chairman of Jabot Cosmetics and a single father. The Abbott character died in 2006, but Douglas continued to make special appearances on the show as his ghost, most recently in 2016.
Douglas is survived by his second wife, actor Kymberly Bankier, his three children and two grandchildren.
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