Gerald Gordon

Biography: Emmy award-winning daytime television staple Gerald Gordon is often credited with creating the soap opera's first anti-hero and becoming one of the highest paid soap actors after joining the cast of General Hospital in the mid-'70s. A native of Chicago, Gordon studied acting at Northwestern University with Viola Spolin before relocating to New York to continue his studies with Lee Strasberg. Performing on and off-Broadway in such productions as Compulsion and The Threepenny Opera, Gordon later went on to appear in such popular television shows as The Twilight Zone, Knight Rider, and Baywatch. Following his Emmy win for his role in First Ladies Diaries: Rachel Jackson, Gordon hit his stride with his role as hotheaded neurosurgeon Nick Bellini on NBC's The Doctors. On August 17, 2001, Gordon died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in L.A. after a long illness. He was 67.