5 hours ago
7
The American actor Eric Dane, who has died of motor neurone disease aged 53, found fame and sex-symbol status as the brilliant plastic surgeon Mark Sloan in the medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, which went to the top of the TV ratings in the US and attracted big audiences worldwide.
The character first appeared in 2006, in the second series of the show, as a one-off visitor to the fictional Seattle Grace hospital, to which his former best friend, the neurosurgeon Derek Shepherd (played by Patrick Dempsey), had moved following Mark’s affair with his wife. Mark’s flirting with Derek’s new girlfriend, Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), leads his old pal to punch him in the face.
Another member of staff gives Mark the nickname “McSteamy”, a more raunchy variation of the “McDreamy” name coined for Derek because of his good looks and charm.
This paved the way for Dane to become a cast regular in the third series. He first made an impact stepping out of a hotel shower, soaking wet. “The towel scene has definitely done something for me,” Dane said at the time. “I guess nobody has to guess what is under my T-shirt any more … That image has been everywhere. I can live with that!”
Dane had previously played a doctor, Wyatt Cooper, in another American medical drama, Gideon’s Crossing, which ran for only one series (2000-01). “I don’t know why the audience responds to certain things,” he said. “I guess it was just the wrong time for that show. When it comes to Grey’s Anatomy, I guess people can identify with the characters because they are so horribly flawed.”
After Mark joined the team at Seattle Grace hospital, the womanising surgeon set pulses racing all the way through to Grey’s Anatomy’s ninth series, in 2012. A central storyline was his on-off relationship with Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh), Meredith’s younger half-sister, but Mark also dates nurses and other staff, including Callie Tores (Sara Ramirez), with whom he has a daughter.
Mark and Lexi split up before a plane crash that leaves them both injured. Tending her in the debris, he confesses his love for Lexie before she dies. Left in a critical condition himself, Mark later dies in hospital. Dane returned to the programme briefly in season 17 for a dream sequence.
He was born in San Francisco, the elder son of Leah (nee Cohn), a travel agent, and William Dane Melvin, an architect and interior designer who became a real estate broker. When he was seven, his father died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
While attending high schools in Sequoia, Redwood City, and San Mateo, he was a keen water polo player. “My season was short and I ended up getting roped in to playing Joe Keller in [the Arthur Miller play] All My Sons. Dead serious. And I fell in love with it. I was, like, ‘This is the greatest feeling ever!’”.
Dane moved to Los Angeles, took acting classes and soon began to get small roles on television in series such as Saved by the Bell (in 1991), The Wonder Years (1993), Married with Children (1995) and Roseanne (1996), before disappointment with Gideon’s Crossing.
Some consolation came with the role of Jason Dean, both the boss and, briefly, boyfriend of Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), the youngest of the three sister witches, in two series of the fantasy drama Charmed (2003-04).
After Grey’s Anatomy, Dane starred in The Last Ship (2014-18) as Tom Chandler, commanding officer of the USS Nathan James, a guided‑missile destroyer entrusted with pulling back the human race from the brink of extinction following a global pandemic.
Then, in the teen drama Euphoria (2019-26), he had a leading role as Cal Jacobs, the bisexual father of a high-school football player.
In the film X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), he created lighthearted relief from the action playing Jamie Madrox, AKA the Multiple Man, a mutant with the ability to make duplicates of himself, but often simply creating chaos.
His other film roles included Sebastian, a newspaper journalist working with Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson’s dog-owning characters in Marley & Me (2008), and Sean Jackson, an American football player coming out as gay in the romantic comedy Valentine’s Day (2010).
Dane announced last year that he had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a type of motor neurone disease. He will be seen in a wheelchair during the forthcoming third series of Euphoria.
In 2004, Dane married the actor Rebecca Gayheart. She and their two daughters, Billie and Georgia, survive him.
