Patrick Muldoon, 'Days of Our Lives' Star, Dead at 57 of Heart Attack
The Starship Troopers actor was found unconscious on the bathroom floor of his Beverly Hills home Sunday morning; a final film he co-starred in with Denise Richards is set for release this week.
Patrick Muldoon, the actor best known for originating the role of Austin Reed on Days of Our Lives and for playing villainous Richard Hart on Melrose Place, died suddenly April 19 following a heart attack. He was 57.
His sister, Shana Muldoon-Zappa, told TMZ that Muldoon spent Sunday morning with his partner, Miriam Rothbart, before going to shower. When Rothbart went to check on him after he had been in the bathroom for some time, she found him unconscious on the floor. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.
No prior health issues were widely reported.
Born in San Pedro, California, Muldoon played football at USC before starting his acting career while still in college, landing a two-episode arc on Who's the Boss? Shortly after graduating in 1991, he picked up a recurring role on Saved By the Bell, then landed the Days of Our Lives role that would define his early career. He played Austin Reed from 1992 to 1995, then returned to the role in 2011 and 2012.
His later work shifted increasingly behind the camera. As a producer, Muldoon built a slate of films through his Storyboard Productions, with credits including The Tribes of Palos Verdes, Arkansas, Marlowe, and The Card Counter. That part of his career had been gathering momentum for over a decade.
One project arrived with particularly sharp timing. Muldoon's latest film, the crime thriller Dirty Hands, which co-stars Richards and Michael Beach, is slated for release April 24 — five days after his death.
The friendship between Muldoon and Richards stretched back nearly four decades. Richards wrote on Instagram Tuesday that the two first met in an acting class when she was 19 and had never landed a job, and he was 21 and studying at USC. "36 years later," she wrote. "My whole adult life and I don't know it without you." They met on the set of Starship Troopers in 1997, dated for close to five years, and remained close after the relationship ended.
Richards called Muldoon her "best friend" and "most underrated actor," saying the loyalty between them was "unconditional and rare." She noted that even through her marriage to Charlie Sheen and the turbulent years that followed, Muldoon remained a constant.
Richards' daughter Lola Sheen also posted a tribute, writing that Muldoon was expected to be in their lives forever and that his presence had been central to her childhood.
Friends described Muldoon to Deadline as someone who gave "unforgettable hugs" and possessed "a rare quality of making others feel safe and seen." Known to those closest to him as "Bobo," he is survived by Rothbart; his parents, Deanna and Patrick Muldoon Sr.; his sister Shana and her husband Ahmet Zappa; and their children, Halo and Arrow Zappa.
Richards said that the two had talked about death, and both assumed they would live well into their nineties. "And now I need you more than ever," she wrote, "for this pain and heartache losing you."
