General Hospital's John Ingle Dies at 84

John Ingle, who played Edward Quartermaine on General Hospital for nearly two decades, died Sunday, according to a post on Facebook. He was 84.
See other celebrities we lost this year

Born in Tulsa, Okla., Ingle's first career was as an English and theater teacher in California. His students at Beverly Hills High School included Nicolas Cage, David Schwimmer and Richard Dreyfuss.

After retiring from teaching, he took over the role of Edward Quartermaine on the ABC daytime drama in 1993, after original actor David Lewis retired due to health issues.

Ingle was fired from the soap in 2003, and Edward was reportedly going to be killed off, but fan support led to Ingle being rehired as the patriarch. In 2004, Ingle left General Hospital to take over the role of Mickey Horton on Days of Our Lives. He returned to GH as Edward in 2006 and made his final appearance in the soap just last week.
TVGuide.com Asks: What are your favorite Edward Quartermaine moments?

The legendary actor's co-stars took to Twitter Monday afternoon to express their condolences.

"John Ingle my dear friend, so full of love kindness generosity & humor I will miss u dearly love and deep condolences 2 his beautiful family," John J. York, who plays Mac Scorpio on the show, tweeted.

Chad Duell, who plays Michael Corinthos, wrote: "RIP John Ingle. You were so amazingly sweet and big hearted. The world lost a great man, but heaven gained one."

Ingle's other TV credits include recurring roles on Big Love and The Drew Carey Show. His wife, Grace-Lynne, died in February of this year. The couple had five daughters, nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.