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so long and thanks for all the fish

Babylon 5′s Commander Sinclair Passes Away At 60

by Jill Pantozzi | 4:00 pm, September 30th, 2012


Comic writer, and Babylon 5 creator, J. Michael Straczynski announced via his Facebook page this weekend that star Michael O’Hare had passed away from a heart attack at the age of 60. 

O’Hare played Commander Jeffrey Sinclair in Season 1 of the sci-fi series. He left soon after in what Straczynski said was a “mutual, amicable and friendly separation,” but returned a few time down the road to finish up his storyline. “On Broadway, the Chicago native appeared in the original 1989-91 production of Aaron Sorkin’s A Few Good Men as Col. Nathan Jessup,” writes The Hollywood Reporter. “His résumé also includes the primetime series The Cosby Mysteries, Kate & Allie, Trapper John, M.D.,The Equalizer, Law & Order, L.A. Law and Tales From the Darkside and the daytime soap One Life to Live.”

Straczynski wrote, “I regret that I must convey the sad news that Michael O’Hare passed away today. He suffered a heart attack [last] Sunday and was in a coma until his passing this afternoon. This is a terrible loss for all B5 fans and everyone involved with the show wishes to convey their condolences to the O’Hare family. He was an amazing man.”

That was posted on Friday with a follow-up yesterday from O’Hare’s brother Mark after seeing the flood of fan comments:

Sorry all I must admit I am not a Facebook user. This was just shown to me. I want all of Mikes friends and fans a like to know that our family very much appreciates and thank you for all the kind thoughts and words. He was not only my brother but a great friend who I will miss terribly. I can tell you he loved life his craft and being on B5 and all those associated with the show from creator, cast, crew and fans. This all happened so fast it is still a blur to us. This past Sunday he had heart attack. The hospital did every thing they could to save him. Unfortunately it took some 50 minutes to revive him. Though we knew this to be a very long time and feared the worse. We still hoped and prayed that just maybe he could some how pull through. But in the end it just was not to be. It is just so sad the way it turned out. He just never came out of a coma and when he was declared in vegetative state with no more than once percent of brain functions. We the family were just heart broken. We knew mike would never want to go on with this so we entered him in Hospice for a peaceful and painless passing. Mike will now be reunited with his younger brother and sister whom we lost a while back. So we the family is comforted to know he will be with them again. Again thank you. Mike I am sure is smiling down knowing that he was able to touch so many with his craft. God Bless.

Babylon 5 is one famous sci-fi show I’ve yet to watch but I’ve heard good things. Were you a B5 fan?

(via The Hollywood Reporter)

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  • http://twitter.com/KamuiValentine Meg Wallace

    I grew up watching B5 with my mom and I totally don’t regret it because it made me a better person. Seriously, ignore anything Dr. Sheldon Cooper says, the show is awesome. “From the stars we came, to the stars we return.”

  • http://twitter.com/WhatKateDoes Kate Lorimer

    Fabulous series, one of the first proper linear storyline (as opposed to Star Trek Mystery every week) with a totally heartbreaking ending. Loved it.

  • Anonymous

    Babylon 5 was frickin’ fantastic, and laid the groundwork for genre storytelling; something like Lost or nBSG would *not* have been possible without Bab5. I preferred John Sheridan (played by Bruce Boxleitner) to O’Hare’s Sinclair, but Sinclair had some awesome moments.

    RIP, Mr. O’Hare. Take care, Ranger One.

  • Julie Terekh

    Love Babylon 5. It is hilarious. But I personally would skip Season 1.

  • http://www.facebook.com/stephen.wallis1 Stephen Wallis

    Loved all the B5 seasons but S1 and Michael O’Hare were extra special. Incredibly sad news.

  • Anonymous

    Babylon 5 is worth checking out, but a few things to consider. Season 1 is all set up; things don’t get good until season 2. It’s also one of the only shows designed with a true 5 year arc, from beginning to end. Problem is, they thought they were going to get cancelled season 4, and it shows in how quickly they rushed to finish the story. Definitely skip season 5 as well as all the movies. Season 3 is the best.

    Sometimes JMS’s writing can be clunky, especially the alcoholism story line. You can tell how limited the budget was. Season 1′s special effects were done on a Commodore Amiga (seriously) and it shows. I don’t think the show ever had a location- or exterior- shot; it was all done on the same small soundstages, which is actually pretty impressive for a SF show. Also probably the first SF show with gay characters, but it really was the love that dare not speak its name. Then again, it was the 90s.

  • http://www.facebook.com/TechnoMistress Lisa Lacey Liscoumb

    RIP Ranger One. Very sad news indeed. Although I preferred John Sheridan to Jeffrey Sinclair, I enjoyed both, and Mr. O’Hare was an amazing actor. He will be missed.

  • http://twitter.com/WhatKateDoes Kate Lorimer

    Skip season 5: Agreed…. EXCEPT THE LAST EPISODE! Guaranteed to have our household (cats included) bawling!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003037095323 Jerilyn Nighy

    RIP Michael O’Hare, and condolences to his family and friends. B5 is a must watch, as is Blake’s 7 (Avon!), and Farscape, of the scifi space opera shows that most put off watching.

    It’s obvious Farscape and Firefly, both awesome in their own right, borrowed from Blake’s 7.

  • http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0977888401 Sabreman

    Well, don’t skip the pilot movie. It has some important plot related things (even though they had to redesign how the plot would run when several of the characters didn’t return for the main series. In hindsight it seems obvious that the Asian woman–sorry, I can’t remember her name, but I rather liked her–replaced by Ivanova must have been the sleeper agent, for example.)

  • http://draw2much.deviantart.com/ Nicole Kiser

    Woah! Another person who watched this show with their Mom! Cool!

  • http://www.facebook.com/heartcancercure.harte Heartcancercure Harte

    Another sad result of heart disease. In the book “The Cure for Heart Disease (and Cancer Too) I show the many recent scientific studies that forms of pyruvic acid (pyruvate) supplemented can help halt either heart disease, heart failure, etc. This author used it to very successfully treat his mortally threatening heart failure. No medicine, drug, supplement, surgery was of any use, but this method. No thanks to top doctors, this method worked. Much the same story as that of Pax Beale, who went on to become a world class bodybuilding champ in his 60′s and 70′ after also suffering form heart failure at age 61. Lance Armstrong’s foundation proved forms of pyruvate can also stop cancer. Amazing and true 600 page book available on Amazon Kindle, costs less than a cup of coffee.

  • http://twitter.com/SarahARoyce SarahAndrea Royce

    No, I was not, I am. Very sad to hear that. He now is really “The One that was”.

  • http://twitter.com/SarahARoyce SarahAndrea Royce

    I actually liked the 5th season, it was the second half of the fourth I didn’t like.too much. Yet the first half was breathtaking.

  • http://twitter.com/Joi_the_Artist Joi

    A roommate insisted I watch this show a few years ago. It rapidly became my favorite sci-fi show of all time (not counting Serenity, because that’s not really sci-fi.) The first season is a bit bumpy, but seasons 2-4 are absolutely amazing.

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