Benjamin Masters (May 6, 1947 – January 11, 2023) was an American actor who is best known for his portrayal of

Julian Crane Julian Crane is a fictional character from the American soap opera ''Passions'' portrayed by original cast member Ben Masters. In the soap's early years, Julian is portrayed as a drunken philanderer who shares an antagonistic, loveless marria ...

in daytime drama ''

Passions ''Passions'' is an American television soap opera that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1999, to September 7, 2007, and on DirecTV's The 101 Network from September 17, 2007, to August 7, 2008. Created by screenwriter James E. Reilly and pro ...

'' from July 8, 1999, to the show's final episode on August 7, 2008.

Early life

Masters was born in

Corvallis, Oregon Corvallis ( ) is a city and the county seat of Benton County in central western Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton County. As of the 2020 United ...

, and graduated from the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

as a theater major.

Career

Masters moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and landed a role in the

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

play '' The Boys in the Band''. He also had a 13-month run in Kevin Wade's

Key Exchange Key exchange (also key establishment) is a method in cryptography by which cryptographic keys are exchanged between two parties, allowing use of a cryptographic algorithm. If the sender and receiver wish to exchange encrypted messages, each m ...

off-Broadway. The Broadway plays ''

Captain Brassbound's Conversion ''Captain Brassbound's Conversion'' (1900) is a play by G. Bernard Shaw. It was published in Shaw's 1901 collection '' Three Plays for Puritans'' (together with '' Caesar and Cleopatra'' and '' The Devil's Disciple''). The first American product ...

'' with

Ingrid Bergman Ingrid Bergman (29 August 191529 August 1982) was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films, television movies, and plays.Obituary ''Variety'', 1 September 1982. With a career spanning five decades, she is often ...

and ''

The Cherry Orchard ''The Cherry Orchard'' (russian: Вишнёвый сад, translit=Vishnyovyi sad) is the last play by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Written in 1903, it was first published by ''Znaniye'' (Book Two, 1904), and came out as a separate edition ...

'' with

Irene Worth Irene Worth, CBE (June 23, 1916March 10, 2002) was an American stage and screen actress who became one of the leading stars of the British and American theatre. She pronounced her given name with three syllables: "I-REE-nee". Worth made her Bro ...

Raul Julia Raúl Rafael Carlos Juliá y Arcelay (March 9, 1940 – October 24, 1994) was a Puerto Rican actor. Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he took an interest in acting while still in school and pursued the career upon completion of his studies. After ...

, and

Meryl Streep Mary Louise Meryl Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Often described as "the best actress of her generation", Streep is particularly known for her versatility and accent adaptability. She has received numerous accolades throu ...

followed. Masters portrayed Nick, the older brother of the titular character in the 1976–1977 Saturday morning series '' Muggsy''. Masters started in daytime dramas when he portrayed Vic Strang on '' Another World'' for three months in 1982. Masters later appeared as corporate raider Linc Bartlett in the television miniseries '' Noble House'' in 1988. On May 14, 1994, Masters was one of the guests in the ''

Walker, Texas Ranger ''Walker, Texas Ranger'' is an American action crime television series created by Leslie Greif and Paul Haggis. It was inspired by the film ''Lone Wolf McQuade'', with both this series and that film starring Chuck Norris as a member of the Texa ...

'' two-hour special episode titled "The Reunion". In 1999, he signed a contract for NBC's ''

'', as the womanizing billionaire Julian Crane. His role on the daytime drama landed him

Soap Opera Digest Award ''The Soap Opera Digest Awards'', originally known as ''The Soapy Awards'' when introduced in 1977, is an awards show held by the daytime television magazine ''Soap Opera Digest''. History 1977 until 1983 The Soapy Awards were an award presen ...

nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in 2001 and 2002 and Outstanding Lead Actor in 2005. After NBC announced that it was cancelling ''Passions'' in February 2007, Masters said "I will miss getting to play this part so much. I had such a great time playing Julian Crane. I wanted to do it until I couldn't do it anymore." ''Passions'' was later picked up by

Directv DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. It ...

for the 2007–2008 season. Masters died from complications of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

while battling

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

on January 11, 2023, at the age of 75.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Masters, Ben 1947 births 2023 deaths American male soap opera actors American male film actors American male television actors Male actors from Oregon People from Corvallis, Oregon Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in California Corvallis High School (Oregon) alumni University of Oregon alumni