General Hospital star Nicholas Pryor has died. The actor, who also costarred with a young Tom Cruise in 1983’s Risky Business among many other film and TV roles, was 89.
Pryor’s onscreen son, GH costar Jon Lindstrom, confirmed his death via Instagram.
“It is my solemn task to announce the passing of the great Nicholas Pryor. Nick was an actor’s actor and an exceptional friend. He passed on October 7, 2024, surrounded by loving family,” Lindstrom, 66, wrote via Instagram on Tuesday, October 8. “Nick may be best known for his role as the father of #TomCruise in #RiskyBusiness, or as the same to #RobertDowneyJr in #LessThanZero. He shared the screen with the likes of #JackNicholson #KurtRussell #EwanMcGregor — Too many to name really.”
He appeared in 1992’s Hoffa with Nicholson, 1996’s Executive Decision with Russell and 2019’s Doctor Sleep with McGregor.
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“He starred on #Broadway and delivered terrific work in film and TV for over 60 years. But to me, he was my friend,” Lindstrom continued. “One of the best I’ve ever had. He was a mentor, a sounding board, a trusted confidant and even a father figure beyond, yes, playing my own father on #GH and #PortCharles.”
Lindstrom further remembered Pryor as “one of the funniest people you could hope to spend time with over a bottle of good wine and a great meal.”
“I will miss him terribly, as will his beautiful wife Christina, his daughter Stacey, and his two grandchildren, Gus and Avril,” Lindstrom concluded.
Pryor’s longtime publicist confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that the late actor died following a battle with cancer.
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Pryor notably played Processor Victor Collins on General Hospital and its Port Charles spinoff, who was the father to twins Kevin and Ryan. (Lindstrom played both twins on the soap opera.)
In addition to his soap history, Pryor had featured roles in Risky Business, Another World, Airplane!, The Bronx Zoo and The Falcon and the Snowman. Pryor also played Chancellor Milton Arnold on Beverly Hills, 90210, the father to Kathleen Robertson’s Clare.
“I liked watching it, but more I liked the fact that [my wife Christina Belford] was having such a good time,” Pryor previously recalled during a 2020 YouTube interview, also referring to his wife’s recurring role as Samantha Sanders. “She liked all the people all the circumstances and that’s not common. So, I had a favorable feeling about the whole enterprise.”
Pryor joined 90210 during season 4.
“They needed someone who would embody the ideals of California University,” he recalled at the time. “There was this talk about his having won the Nobel [Prize], which I thought ‘OK, gotta be in economics, I can’t sustain anything else.’ And then also that my daughter would simultaneously be joining the cast and that was about it.”
