Patrick Muldoon, 'Days of Our Lives' actor and 'Melrose Place' villain, dies

Taijuan Moorman, USA TODAYMon, April 20, 2026 at 12:24 PM UTC

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Patrick Muldoon arrives at Youth, I.N.C's "Net Gain: A Celebration to Benefit Los Angeles Kids" at Crossroads School on Oct. 17, 2004, in Santa Monica, California.

Patrick Muldoon, the actor best known for playing Austin Reed on "Days of Our Lives" and Richard Hart on "Melrose Place," has died. He was 57.

Muldoon's manager confirmed the actor's death on Sunday, April 19, to Variety. USA TODAY has reached out to Muldoon's reps.

The Los Angeles native, who received two Rose Bowl rings during his time playing football for the University of Southern California, got his start as a model for Wilhelmina, where he would star in Calvin Klein ads. By the mid-'80s, he would kick off his lengthy acting career with an appearance on "Who's the Boss?" He followed the role with roles on "Saved by the Bell" playing Jeffrey Hunter, the manager of The Max who briefly dated Tiffani Thiessen's Kelly Kapowski.

Patrick Muldoon attends the premiere of "Riff Raff" during the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival at Princess of Wales Theatre on Sept. 9, 2024, in Toronto.

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By 1992, Muldoon was starring in "Days of Our Lives" as one of two actors to portray Austin Reed, an aspiring boxer with a troubled past and love interest of Carrie Brady. During Muldoon's run as Austin, his storyline included his father being murdered, his drugging and sexual assault by Carrie's sister Sami, a proposal and Sami's pregnancy. Austin Peck went on to play Austin Reed for lengthier stints between 1995 and 2021, aside from Muldoon's reprisal of the role in 2011 and 2012.

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Muldoon starred in one of the darker storylines of the "Beverly Hills, 90210" soap spin-off, "Melrose Place" in 1995. He played Richard, a designer and husband of Mackenzie Hart (Morgan Brittany), who has an affair and later proposes to Josie Bissett's Jane Andrews. By Season 4, Richard physically and sexually assaults Jane, who, with her sister, attempts to kill Richard. He is believed to be dead by the end of the season, but is in fact still alive. He would go on to die in a Season 5 police shootout.

Following his stint on the soap opera, Muldoon went on to star in 1997's "Starship Troopers" as Zander Barcalow, followed by a run of smaller film and TV movie roles, and later producing films through his company Storyboard Productions. He helped produce "The Card Counter," "Marlow" and the 2024 action-comedy "Riff Raff" starring Jennifer Coolidge, Bill Murray, Pete Davidson and Gabrielle Union.

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Patrick Muldoon attends the 2025 Best Buddies Celebrity Bowling Event at Pinz Bowling Center on Dec. 7, 2025, in Studio City, California.

He was set to coproduce the upcoming crime thriller "Kockroach" starring Chris Hemsworth, Zazie Beetz, Channing Tatum and Alec Baldwin.

He is set to start in several films posthumously, including the Denise Richards crime thriller "Dirty Hands."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Patrick Muldoon dead – 'Days of Our Lives,' 'Melrose Place' actor dies

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