Longtime soap star Nicolas Coster died on June 26, 2023, at the age of 89. His daughter Dinneen Coster announced on Facebook, “There is great sadness in my heart this evening, my father actor Nicolas Coster has passed on in Florida at 9:01 pm in the hospital. Please be inspired by his artistic achievements and know he was a real actor’s actor!” per Deadline.
Coster had a long career in theater, film, and television. He was most known for his role as Lionel Lockridge in the soap opera “Santa Barbara.” Prior to that series, he starred on”Another World” as Robert Delaney and had a short stint on “One Live to Live.” Born in 1933, Coster started acting in his teens and studied at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. Coster worked with other great actors including starring on Broadway with Elizabeth Taylor and working alongside Robert Redford in “All the President’s Men.”
The cause of Coster’s death was not given at the time. He leaves behind his two children: Dinnean and Candace Coster.
Nicolas Coster’s fellow actors are mourning his death
During his career, Nicolas Coster touched many lives. His fellow “Santa Barbara” co-star A Martinez shared on Facebook, “The great Nicolas Coster walked on this week, and may the wind be warm at his back. He was a consummate actor, every bit as skilled onstage as he was before a camera … It was an honor to work in a company with him.” Former “General Hospital” star Jon Lindstrom wrote, “Nick has left us. He was one of my favorite people I’ve had the honor and pleasure to work, and become friends, with in this showbiz journey … I got to be with him the night he finally won his #Emmy, which made him very proud. R.I.P.”
Coster won his first Emmy award in 1986 for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for “Santa Barbara,” and went on to win three more awards for the show. In 2017, he won an Emmy for the drama series “The Bay.” On how he started his acting career, Coster shared during a 2021 interview that he was nudged into competing in a speech contest after he vociferously defended a boy being bullied in high school. “I won everything … and that started me. I had seen a film about the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London so I begged my mother, ‘I gotta go, I gotta go.’ So I went!”
Clearly, Coster’s passion for acting took him far in his career and he’ll be missed by many.
