Soap veteran John Callahan — Edmund Grey on “All My Children” — died Saturday, the morning after suffering what TMZ reports was a “massive stroke” at his Palm Desert, California, home. He was 66.
Callahan’s death was announced by his ex-wife and former co-star, Eva LaRue, who was married to the actor from 1996-2005, and with whom he shared daughter Kaya McKenna, 18.
“Wing You to Your Rest my Dear Friend,” LaRue posted on Instagram, along with a series of family photos. “Your bigger than life, gregarious personality will leave a hole in our hearts forever. We are devastated-My great friend, co parent partner, and loving father to Kaya. You gave the best, most beautifully written tributes, and I am at a complete loss for words right now for you. I hope Heaven has baseball and that your team always wins! The Yankees has just lost their biggest fan.”
Also moved by Callahan’s passing was his former co-star Kelly Ripa, who posted an image of Callahan and LaRue from when they were expecting Kaya. She wrote, “Because there are no words, all i can muster is Rest In Peace #johncallahan My heart breaks for you @evalarue and @kaya_callahan.”
Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar, another “All My Children” alum, referred to Callahan as a surrogate father in her own post, which included a photo of herself graduating high school with him at her side. “Get past the horrible eyebrows on me and you will notice the incredibly handsome man, standing beside, me at my high school graduation. That’s #JohnCallahan or better know to me as GP (but why I called him that remains between us and those closest to him),” she wrote. “He stepped into a lot of moments in my life because I didn’t have a father to be there. Johns greatest joy in his life, was when he had a daughter of his own @kaya_callahan. John left us this morning. I promise you GP just as you were there for me, I will always be there for smoosh (Kaya) and @evalarue as well. I will tape a pic of you to my hand held mirror (that’s for you @kellyripa ) This is all too much, especially right now, but I want the world to know how much you meant to so many people. #RIPJohnCallahan.”
LaRue responded, “Sooo Beautiful My sweet sister! I love you.”
Others to react to Callahan’s death include Finola Hughes and Holly Robinson Peete.
Callahan was born December 23, 1953, in Brooklyn. He dropped studying law in favor of pursuing acting.
He made his TV debut on a 1982 episode of “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” appeared on numerous classic TV shows, like “Three’s Company” (1983), “Fantasy Island” (1984), and “Murder, She Wrote’ (1987 & 1989), and made his film debut in the acclaimed “Marvin’s Room” (1996).
The handsome actor was most steadily employed on daytime and nighttime soaps, including “General Hospital” (1984-1985), “Falcon Crest” (1986-1988), “Santa Barbara” (1989-1991), “All My Children” (1992-2005), and “Days of Our Lives” (2008-2010).
With LaRue, he co-hosted “Weddings of a Lifetime” (1995) and also the Miss America pageant (1997).
His final work appears to have been in a film entitled “Loyalty,” which does not yet have a release date.
Callahan, who was married to Linda Freeman before LaRue, is survived by his stepsons from that union, as well as by LaRue and their daughter.