Actor Robert Urich Dead at Age 55

Urich died Tuesday at a hospital in the Los Angeles area after a decade-long battle with cancer, his publicist said. He was diagnosed with a rare cancer and became a vocal advocate for cancer research. Urich died of the disease, synovial cell sarcoma, which affects a person's joints.

After his television series debut in the short-lived "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice," Urich acted - a five-line role that ended in a crash scene - in "Magnum Force" opposite Clint Eastwood. But it was as Peter in the tongue-in-cheek "Soap" that marked Urich's breakthrough and as the star of the detective shows "Vega$" (1978-81) and "Spencer for Hire" (1985-88) that became his trademark roles.

He was awarded an Emmy for his narration of the National Geographic "Explorer" documentary "U-Boats: Terror on Our Shores."

In August 1996, Urich, was admitted to a Los Angeles hospital for treatment of a rare form of cancer. His prognosis for recovery was considered excellent by his doctors. He was scheduled for several weeks of chemotherapy, but the uncertainty of the disease forced the cancellation of his 1996 series, "Lazarus Man."

The disease, however, did not end his acting career, as he appeared in several television shows and also in the stage play "Chicago" as "Razzle Dazzle 'Em Bill Flynn."

Urich was born in Toronto, Ohio, a steel town, on Dec. 19, 1946, to working-class parents, John and Cecilia Urich. He married Barbara Rucker, an actress, whom he divorced in 1974. He married Heather Menzies in 1974, an actress he met while working on a commercial, and the couple adopted two children.

Urich attended Florida State University on a football scholarship, competing in his freshman year, but got injured in his second year. He received a degree from Michigan State University in 1971, then took a short-lived job as a sales account executive with a Chicago radio station and decided he wanted to be an actor.

Urich had little acting experience, but impressed actor Burt Reynolds, another former Florida State football player turned actor, who saw him in a Chicago dinner theater production of "The Rainmaker," and invited him to Hollywood where he was soon winning small parts in television and movies.

In one of his early films, Urich played a vigilante motorcycle cop in "Magnum Force," but failed to tell producers he had no motorcycle experience. In an important scene, Urich drove his bike down a parking garage ramp, failed to "peel off" as directed, and rolled over the other actors' bikes.

Urich had his share of television flops. He said his sitcom takeoff of the movie "Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice," in which he played Bob Sanders, lasted "15 minutes."

Some years later, he was "Gavilan," an hour adventure series in which he was an oceanographer and former CIA agent Robert Gavilan. The show was the first announced cancellation of the 1982-83 season. He had equal success in such short-lived series as "S.W.A.T.," a cop-violence show, and as a talk show host on "Tabitha," a spin-off of the "Bewitched" series.

Urich made an impression on a new television audience in the experimental satire series "Soap," playing Peter Campbell, a comic character who has affairs with both leading ladies in the series, but is murdered in the first season.

In "Spencer," Urich ended a career of short-lived television series that saw him in the lead of a host of television crime stories in which the hero was all brawn and no brains and the action consisted of chaotic car chases.

Urich's "Spencer" was tough but tender, and quoted Wordsworth and other literary giants as he worked cases that were centered in the Boston area, where Urich lived with his family. Scripts for "Spencer" also included discussions on cooking gourmet meals, concerts and art, and even sports, a unique angle that created extensive viewer interest.

He co-starred in "Lonesome Dove," the classic Western miniseries.

Urich's movie career was not as successful, although he appeared in several, including "Magnum Force," 1973; "Endangered Species," 1982; "The Ice Pirates," 1984; "Turk 182!" in 1985 and "Smokey and the Bandit," 1992.

In an interview, Urich said a movie career did not interest him, especially if it separated him from his family. A dedicated family man, Urich retained the home-base working-class values of his parents, fixing things up around the home near Boston, making meals, fixing the plumbing. "Socially," he said in an interview, "we're D-list. We're boring."

His family, including his wide and three children, reportedly were at his bedside when the actor died.