Joe Marinelli, General Hospital and Santa Barbara star, dead at 68

Actor Joe Marinelli, best known for his roles in “General Hospital,” “Santa Barbara” and Apple TV+’s “The Morning Show,” has died at age 68.The soap star died in Burbank, Calif., on June 22, his wife Jean Marinelli confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.Marinelli’s agent, Julie Smith, told CNN that he had been battling throat and stomach cancer at the time of his death, having been diagnosed a few years ago.The actor was known for his colorful roles in a wide range of shows, including “General Hospital,” “Santa Barbara,” “Guiding Light” and more recently on AppleTV+’s “The Morning Show,” which stars Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon.“I really loved him and what he stood for,” Marinelli’s “Morning Show” castmate Mark Duplass told the outlet.“We didn’t spend 10,000 hours together, but we were spiritually aligned in many ways.”Director Alexander Payne, whose 2004 film “Sideways” starred Marinelli, mourned the late actor as an “extraordinary artist.”“The great Joe Marinelli acted in my very first movie at film school 40 years ago and again in Sideways,” Payne said.

“Aside from being an extraordinary artist, he was a uniquely magnificent human being with a heart as big as the ocean.”Following the news of his death, Marinelli’s “Santa Barbara” castmate and longtime friend Leigh J.McCloskey took to social media to pay her respects.“A sweeter man or a dearer friend you could not find than Joe Marinelli,” McCloskey wrote on Facebook.In his poignant tribute, McCloskey described Marinelli as “a great acting partner, teacher, philosophical friend, passionate believer in people, and a storyteller extraordinaire that with laughter and depth revealed the human spirit so beautifully and in so many different ways.”“[It] saddens me greatly to say goodbye to my old friend and his belief in the goodness, and even the possible greatness of the human adventure,” he added.

“I’m glad I walked...