Nicolas Coster, a veteran actor known for his work on the daytime dramas âSanta Barbaraâ and âAnother World,â died Monday, his daughter announced in a Facebook post.
He was 89.
âItâs with great sadness that I am posting this to my fatherâs book page,â Dinneen Coster wrote. âNicolas Coster passed on this evening in a hospital in Florida. Please remember him as a great artist. He was an actorâs actor! I will always be inspired by him and know how lucky I am to have such a great father!! Rest In Peace.â
In a statement to CNN, Costerâs agent Chrystal Ayers said he died of complications from a long-term battle with cancer.
A veteran actor with more than 100 film and television credits, Costerâs film, television and theater career spans decades. Among many other titles, Coster worked extensively on various long-running daytime soap operas.
Coster was best known for his role as Robert Delaney on NBCâs television series âSomerset,â joining the cast in 1970 and continuing to portray Delaney on âAnother Worldâ until 1980. He appeared in over 250 episodes through his time on the show, and later returned in 1989 for the 25th anniversary.
He also starred as Lionel Lockridge on the daytime soap âSanta Barbara,â which followed a community of wealthy families in the affluent California city. Coster appeared in nearly 600 episodes between 1984 and 1993.
Throughout his career, Coster went on to appear in other notable soaps such as âAs the World Turnsâ as Eduardo Grimaldi, as gangster-turned-informant Anthony Makana on âOne Life to Liveâ and kidnapper Steve Andrews on âAll My Children.â His first role starring in a soap came in the1960s when he played professor Paul Britton on âThe Secret Storm.â
The London native was raised in California and returned to England to study acting at the Royal Academy of the Dramatic Art, and later studied acting with famed acting teacher and theater director Lee Strasberg in New York City, according to a biography.
Costerâs early acting credits from the 1960s include roles on various television shows such as âOur Private Worldâ and âThe Green Hornetâ after appearing in a number of uncredited feature films through the 1950s.
In 1976, he starred alongside Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as Markham in âAll the Presidentâs Men,â the iconic cinematic retelling of how âWashington Postâ reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncovered pivotal details related to the Watergate scandal that led to former president Richard Nixonâs resignation.
Coster also played Colonel Huff in âMacArthurâ alongside Gregory Peck, the 1977 World War II era biopic of General Douglas MacArthur, and appeared in the 1981 journalism drama âRedsâ alongside Warren Beatty.
Between 1982 and 1988, Coster played David Warner, Blair Warnerâs father on the NBC sitcom âThe Facts of Life.â His other credits include âMurder, She Wrote,â â3rd Rock From the Sun,â âDr. Quinn: Medicine Woman,â âLaw & Order,â and he starred as a series regular on âThe Bayâ as Mayor Jack Madison throughout the 2010s.
Costerâs more recent credits include playing Archbishop Norman in the 2020 horror film âThe Last Exorcistâ and as LLoyd Cutler in Ryan Murphyâs âAmerican Crime Story: Impeachmentâ mini-series in 2021. His final credit in 2023 is for one episode of âThe Rookie: Fedsâ as Joseph Cicero.
Coster was also an author who published his memoir âAnother Whole Afternoonâ in 2021 and was a celebrated stage actor with various stints on and off Broadway shows.