Nicolas Coster, who starred in nearly 600 episodes of the ’80s drama “Santa Barbara,” died Monday in a Florida hospital at the age of 89.
Coster’s daughter announced his death on social media. “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,” Dinneen Coster wrote on Facebook. “Please be inspired by his artistic achievements and know he was a real actor’s actor!”
Coster was best known for playing Lionel Lockridge in the NBC soap opera, which ran from 1984 to 1993. But over the course of his seven-decade career, he also played a lawyer in “All the President’s Men,” Diane Keaton’s husband in “Reds” and the father of Blair Warner (Lisa Whelchel) in “Facts of Life.”
The actor appeared in dozens of roles spanning the decades of his career. Coster’s first role was as an uncredited seaman in 1953’s “Titanic.” In the ’50s he starred in “City of Shadows” and “The Outcast.” The ’60s led to Coster starring in such projects as “No Time for Sergeants,” “Our Private World,” “The Green Hornet” and “N.Y.P.D.” But it wasn’t until the 1970s with Alan J. Pakula’s “All the President’s Men” that Coster became more recognizable to a mainstream audience.
After that, the actor starred in “Charlie’s Angels,” “Dallas,” “Little House on the Prairie” and the soap opera “Another World.” He also starred as Mayor Jack Madison in the Emmy-winning “The Bay” and as Admiral Anthony Haftel in “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” The British-American actor also appeared in “The Young Pope,” “Better Things,” “Impeachment: American Crime Story” and “The Rookie: Feds.”
Coster, who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, did extensive theater work, including “The Little Foxes” with Elizabeth Taylor. He also worked in commercials, including as the man who says, “My wife, I think I’ll keep her” in the infamous Geritol commercial that inspired the Mary Chapin Carpenter song “He Thinks He’ll Keep Her.”
Coster was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a mainstay at Academy screenings and events in Los Angeles, particularly in the Best International Feature Film category. He was also a scuba instructor who spent years working with disabled divers. In recent years, he and his wife, Elena, have divided their time between Los Angeles and Florida.
