‘Baywatch’ Actor Michael Newman Dead at 68

Actor Michael Newman, best known for his role as lifeguard Mike “Newmie” Newman on Baywatch, has died. Newman died “from heart complications” on Sunday, Oct. 20 “surrounded by his family and friends,” his friend, Matt Felker, confirmed to PEOPLE. The actor, who had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2006, was 68.

“I got to see Mike the last time he was conscious and he looked [at] me and in typical Mike fashion said, ‘You’re just in time,’” Felker, who recently directed the Hulu docuseries After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun, told the outlet.

Newman rose to fame through his role as Mike “Newmie” Newman on Baywatch. Although Newman wasn’t initially in the featured cast of the NBC show, he “was too useful for them to get rid of me,” he told PEOPLE in 2023. Being the only real lifeguard in the cast, Newman performed his own stunts and offered guidance to the writing staff on rescues scenes, the actor sharing that “after seven years of being out of the opening credits, I finally was anointed and allowed to be in the front of the show.”

He went on to appear in 150 episodes of Baywatch — the most of any other cast member other than David Hasselhoff — across 10 seasons from 1989 to 2000, and later reprised his role in three episodes of the 1995 spinoff series Baywatch Nights. After Baywatch ended, Newman, who also starred in the films Welcome to Hollywood (1998) and Enemy Action (1999), per his IMDb profile, largely walked away from Hollywood, continuing to work as a firefighter until his retirement after 25 years.

The Los Angeles-born Newman was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2006 at the age of 50. His battle with the disease was mentioned in After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun, with Newman sharing that he took 10 medications a day and would often wake up “jittery.”

Opening up about his diagnosis in an August interview with PEOPLE, the actor said, “Telling of my personal story brings awareness to the importance of finding a Parkinson’s cure… This terminal disease has allowed me a lot of thinking time, which I maybe didn’t want, but it’s brought me wisdom.” He added, “My body has changed so slowly that I hardly notice it, yet I am constantly reminded that Parkinson’s has now become the center of my life.”

Newman is survived by his wife of 36 years, Sara, and their two children, son Chris and daughter Emily, and their granddaughter, Charlie.