Mark LaMura, an Emmy-nominated actor best known for his role as Mark Dalton on All My Children, died on Monday after a battle with lung cancer.
He was 68 years old.
The veteran star appeared on the aforementioned soap opera from 1977 to 1989, although he continued to stop by now and then throughout the 1990s.
During his stint as Pine Valley’s Dalton, La Mura’s most memorable storylines included romancing his (at the time unknown to him) sibling Erica (played by the incomparable Susan Lucci) and undergoing an intervention about his drug addiction.
The character was eventually written off the series, but returned at one point to play a role in Erica’s intervention for substance abuse.
LaMura was nominated for a Daytime Emmy in 1988.
And he left quite an impression on his famous co-star.
“How can this be? I just received the shocking and deeply saddening news that wonderful Mark LaMura has passed away,” wrote Lucci as a caption to the following image.
She added:
“Mark played my brother Mark on All My Children–he was such a talented and accomplished actor/ a bright and charming presence in all our AMC lives–and a really great guy.
“Mark was loved and he will be missed! RIP, my friend.”
Along with his well known gig on All My Children, LaMura also appeared on the following shows:
- Star Trek: The Next Generation
- L.A. Law
- One Life to Live
- The Sopranos
- 30 Rock
- Law & Order: SVU
- Damages
In a 2012 interview with We Love Soaps, La Mura said that acting on daytime television “was like being able to play all 88 keys on a piano and only being allowed to plunk out the same eight every day.
“To be fair; the writers have to write an hours’ worth of story every day. The director has to shoot it, the actors have learn ‘all them words’ the night before.”
Did he love it, however?
“Love? No,” he said at the time. “Thanks for the dough. It was a heavy-like affair.”
Gotta appreciate that honesty, don’t you?
Over the years, La Mura also appeared in many theatrical productions, Shakespearean plays and The Rise Of Dorothy Hale.
He portrayed Oscar Madison in the 2013 revival production of The Odd Couple alongside Jeff Talbott as Felix Ungar.
May he rest in peace.
