Dane Witherspoon, SANTA BARBARA’s original cast member
in the role of Joe Perkins, passed away at 56. His second ex-wife, Tracy
Shaffer, announced it through her facebook: “Good night sweet prince. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”
We do not yet know the details, but it seems that Dane
is dead after a few days in a coma following a ruinous fall.
In 1984, he made his soap opera debut as the original
Joe Perkins on Santa Barbara. Three
months later, Dane was replaced by Mark
Arnold because the SB producers decided he wasn’t right for the role. This decision left fans bewildered, but Dane soon
returned to daytime as Tyler McCandless
on television's Capitol series. He
played this part from 1985 to 1986.
Dane’s former co-star, A Martinez, wanted to
commemorate Dane in this way:
And I wish to say goodbye to Dane with the following
video, starring Dane Witherspoon, A Martinez, Robin Wright, Ian Abercrombie
(Philip, the butler) and many others.
