Peter Hardy Found Dead on Beach, ‘Neighbours’ Actor Was 66

Peter Hardy, the Australian actor who appeared in episodes of Neighbours and McLeod’s Daughters, died due to an apparent snorkeling accident earlier in March. He was 66. The actor’s death at a Western Australian beach has a grim connection to another death days before another man drowned in the same area.

Hardy was identified as the man who drowned at Fremantle’s South Beach on Thursday, March 16, reports Australia’s 9 News. His friend Andy Burns said Hardy was visiting from London, where he lived in a canal boat. Hardy was reportedly visiting his elderly mother. Fremantle is a port city in the Perth metropolitan area.

“Words cannot express how deeply I feel this loss, We’ve been close friends since living together in Neutral Bay Sydney in the mid-80s,” Burns wrote in a heartbreaking Facebook post. “He was a superb actor a wonderful singer and [a] guitarist he also played drums and sax. He always loved performing in the theatre as well as film and TV.” Burns sent his condolences to Hardy’s friends, family, and his girlfriend Lyssa.

Another man was pulled from the water near the same spot where Hardy was found on Sunday at around 1:30 p.m. The man’s identity has not been revealed, but he is believed to be in his 30s. A maritime rescue vessel found the man unresponsive about 50 meters offshore, police said. He was taken to a nearby harbor where paramedics performed CPR, but the man could not be revived. Police are still investigating the two drownings.

Hardy began acting in Australian film and television shows in the mid-1980s, according to his IMDb page. One of his first major roles came in 1995 and 1996 when he starred as Sid O’Reilly in Swar. in 1997, he starred n three episodes of the long-running soap opera Neighbours. The Perth-born actor also starred as Phil Rakich in 44 episodes of McLeod’s Daughters from 2006 to 2009. He also starred in a stage production of Mamma Mia!.

“I’m devastated to say that my brother, Peter Hardy, passed away suddenly this morning,” Hardy’s brother, Michael Hardy, wrote on social media, via The Independent. “Rest in Peace, my beloved little brother.”