Hollywood actor Michael Newman has died at the age of 68, Daily Mail reports.
Michael Newman was best known for his role as a lifeguard named Mike ‘Newmie’ Newman on the hit TV series Baywatch which also starred Pamela Anderson and Carmen Electra.
And the actor also starred on Baywatch Nights for three episodes in 1996,
Michael Newman passed away due to complications related to Parkinson’s Disease, according to PageSix. He was first diagnosed with the crippling diseases in 2006 at the age of 50.
His friend Matt Felker told People that the complications were with his heart.
Michael Newman was the only Baywatch actor who had worked as a lifeguard in real life.
He appeared on 150 episodes of the show, which was the most of anyone else on the show, except for the show’s main star David Hasselhoff.
The actor was also a full-time firefighter while starring on Baywatch.
His struggle with Parkinson’s disease was mentioned on the recent documentary Baywatch: Moment in the Sun.
‘This terminal disease has allowed me a lot of thinking time, which I maybe didn’t want, but it’s brought me wisdom,’ Newman told People in August.
‘My body has changed so slowly that I hardly notice it, yet I am constantly reminded that Parkinson’s has now become the center of my life,’ he added.
Newman also said, ‘I am cherishing the days that I get to be on this earth with family and friends. I’m taking life seriously.’
He shared that the words he lives by are, ‘It’s not a run-through.’
Michael’s Baywatch alter ego Newmie was based on himself as he was a lifeguard in real life.
The actor wasn’t intended to star on the show and was first employed as a stuntman, but he eventually got to be right at the heart of the action.
‘I was too useful for them to get rid of me,’ he said.
‘I basically started off as a stuntman, and after seven years of being out of the opening credits, I finally was anointed and allowed to be in the front of the show.’
After his stint on Baywatch, Michael retired from acting because he found it ‘hard’ to ‘look natural’ on camera. He explained: ‘If you didn’t have to be there, why would you be? Let’s be honest … there’s not too many actors that have survived the years of working in Hollywood.’
He admitted there are negative sides to the industry that led to his exit.
Michael said: ‘Having to deal with the people who scratch your name out on the script and put their name on there? That kind of thing … you never get used to that.’
Michael is survived by his wife, Sarah, and their son Chris and daughter Emily, as well as their granddaughter, Charlie.
Baywatch aired from 1989 until 2001; it had many spinoffs and a movie with Priyanka Chopra.
Newman appeared in the 1999 movie Enemy Action with costars C
Thomas Howell and Louis Mandylor.
The thriller was about two Air Force officers who are after a stolen high tech smart bomb.