One Life to Live Alum Alan Scarfe Dead at 77

At age 77, veteran actor Alan Scarfe, who was well-known for several roles in various science fiction series, died from colon cancer on April 28. Appearing in many shows and films, he was known among soap fans for playing the character Leo Cromwell on One Life to Live in 1988. 

The Stage and Screen Was His Home

Former OLTL star Alan Scarfe passed away peacefully in his Quebec home. According to Legacy, he was born in England and spent a majority of his time in Los Angeles and Canada. He attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, the same as several soap stars, including Alley Mills (Heather, General Hospital). Scarfe got his big-screen debut in the 1963 film The Bitter Ash but worked primarily on stage after that until about the 1980s.

He was best known for playing internal affairs rep Herman Walters in Lethal Weapon 3 (1992), as well as battling two Jean-Claude Van Dammes in the 1991 actioner Double Impact. He enjoyed genre work, appearing in such TV shows as Alien Nation, Highlander, Quantum Leap, and Star Trek: The Next Generation. On OLTL, his character Leo Cromwell was also into esoteric things as he searched the world for the lost city of Eterna. He was seeking hidden treasure there, only to meet his maker after successfully finding it. Leo had interacted with Viki (Erika Slezak) and Tina (the late Andrea Evans) before perishing.

Sadly, Scarfe’s brother Brian also died from colon cancer some time before him, and his wife Barbara dealt with cancer, passing away in August 2019. His family told People, “Alan was a formidable person, creatively prolific, dynamically empowered, kind and loving. He will be dearly missed, and his memory will forever be a blessing.”