Ben Masters, ‘Passions’ Star, Dead at 75

Ben Masters, who played Julian Crane on the soap opera Passions for nearly a decade, has died. He was 75. Masters also starred in a handful of movies and television shows, including Bob Fosse’s classic All That Jazz in 1979 and the 1988 Pierce Brosnan-starring miniseries Noble House.

Masters died Wednesday of COVID-19 in Palm Springs, California, reports Variety. He was battling dementia for several years. He is survived by his sister, Cheryl Lerner, and nieces Hannah and Clea Lerner.

The actor was born in Corvallis, Oregon, and studied theater at the University of Oregon. He began his professional acting career in New York, appearing in several Broadway productions, including The Cherry Orchard with Meryl Streep and Captain Brassbound’s Conversion with Ingrid Bergman. He made his movie debut in 1975 when he had a part in Richard Fleischer’s Mandingo with James Mason and Susan George. His other movies include All That Jazz, Key Exchange, Dream Lover, Making Mr. Right, and Walker Texas Ranger 3: Deadly Reunion.

During the 1980s, he would regularly appear in TV movies and miniseries, including The Shadow Box, Kate’s Secret, The Deliberate Stranger, Noble House, and Street or Dreams. In 1988 and 1989, he starred in the short-lived medical drama HeartBeat. He made his first appearance in a daytime soap when he played Vic Strang on Another World for three months in 1982.

Masters is best known for his role as womanizing billionaire Julian Crane on NBC’s Passions. He was one of the show’s original cast members and remained on the show until it ended in 2008. Passions remains the last new daytime soap opera to debut on U.S. network television and the final season aired on DirecTV’s now-defunct The 101 Network. Masters earned three Soap Opera Digest Award nominations for his work on the series.

Masters’ co-stars told Sopa Opera Diest in 2019 they enjoyed working with the veteran actor. “I loved working with Ben Masters,” Lindsay Hartley, who played Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald, said. “He’s so talented. He was just the coolest. He was so supportive with everything. He was a team player. He wanted the show to be good and had fun doing it. He was just great.”