Actor Michael O’Hare, who played Commander Jeffrey Sinclair on the first season of Babylon 5, has passed away.
O’Hare died Friday after suffering a heart attack a couple of days before.
Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski announced O’Hare’s death on his officialFacebook page Friday.
“I regret that I must convey the sad news that Michael O’Hare passed away today. He suffered a heart attack on Sunday and was in a coma until his passing this afternoon. This is a terrible loss for all B5 fans and everyone involved with the show wishes to convey their condolences to the O’Hare family. He was an amazing man,” Stracynski wrote.
O’Hare was a veteran stage actor, working on the original production of A Few Good Men as Col. Jessup (the role made famous by Jack Nicholson in the film version) before he became a guest actor on television. O’Hare had guest roles on L.A. Law, Tales From the Darkside and Kate & Allie before landing the role as Sinclair on B5.
He left the series after one season, but his character had a pivotal role still to play as fans will recall.
After Babylon 5, O’Hare had some other guest roles on TV, including a couple of appearance on Law and Order.
O’Hare is the fourth member of Babylon 5‘s main cast to pass away since the series ended. Richard Biggs, who played Dr. Stephen Franklin throughout the show’s run, died in 2004. Andreas Katsulas, who starred as G’Kar, died in 2006. And Jeff Conaway, who played security officer Zack Allan, passed away last year. With O’Hare’s passing, Straczynski mused on his Facebook page about a B5 reunion in the great beyond.
I;m sorry to hear about Michael O’Hare. I loved his character on B5. My wife and I named our son after him after when we saw the episodes “War without End”. His name is Jeffrey David. 🙂
My condolenses to Michael’s family and friends. He was a great guy and I was fortunate to meet him a few years ago. One of my favourite quotes of all time is from his character Jeffry Sinclair (thanks to JMS)
“Ask ten different scientists about the environment, population control, genetics, and you’ll get ten different answers, but there’s one thing every scientist on the planet agrees on. Whether it happens in a hundred years or a thousand years or a million years, eventually our Sun will grow cold and go out. When that happens, it won’t just take us. It’ll take Marilyn Monroe, and Lao-Tzu, and Einstein, and Morobuto, and Buddy Holly, and Aristophanes, and all of this, all of this was for nothing. Unless we go to the stars.”
I too love that quote. In just a few lines it expresses all that’s good about humanity and needs to be preserved. O’Hare delivered the line in just the right manner. He made the line thoughtful and touching at the same time.