In the past couple of weeks, we’ve lost two of the greatest heartthrobs of the early 2000s: first was “Dawson’s Creek” star James Van Der Beek, and now, “Grey’s Anatomy” star Eric Dane, fondly known as McSteamy.
Dane was just 53 when he passed away on February 19, 2026, two years after he started experiencing symptoms of what would later be diagnosed as ALS. In that time, he became a relentless and vocal advocate for those who also suffer from the heartbreaking disease.
The Jewish actor was raised in San Francisco and fell in love with acting as a teen while participating in his high school production of Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons.” He played shorter-lived roles in shows like “Charmed” and “Gideon’s Crossing.” He was later celebrated for roles in movies like “Marley and Me” and “Valentine’s Day,” and as Cal Jacobs in the hit TV series “Euphoria,” an adaptation of an Israeli show of the same name.
“He was the funniest man – he was such a joy to work with and I want to just remember him in that spirit because any time he was on set, he brought so much fun to it,” his former “Grey’s” co-star Patrick Dempsey shared with People.
Dane faced hardships early on. He was just 7 when his father died from a self-inflicted gun wound. He said that playing Cal Jacobs reminded him of his father — the experience of living a double life. He later named his firstborn daughter, Billie, after his late father.
In an interview last year, Dane shared how heartbroken and angry he was when he found out that just like him, his daughters would have to lose their father at a young age.
In a Netflix special called “Famous Last Words,” recorded last month and just released posthumously, Dane told Jewish host and producer Brad Falchuk that it wasn’t just losing his dad that shattered him as a kid. He lost his maternal grandmother four months later, a woman whom he said helped raise him and was the most maternal figure in his young life. He recalled fondly how she would listen to Engelbert Humperdinck, dancing and singing along to the same record every day. She would cut out “Dennis the Menace” cartoons and put them on the fridge because they reminded her of her mischievous grandson.
Dane shared that his Jewish mother, Leah Cohen, was too young to raise him and his younger brother by herself, but that did the “best she could with the tools she had available to her.”
Dane shared his mother struggled to understand how his father’s death would impact Dane, and that she was in denial about his ALS decline, believing a miracle cure would come along.
“I don’t blame her. If my kid had ALS… I would cling to that too,” he said.
Leah raised both boys Jewish, and Dane celebrated his bar mitzvah. When it came to his two daughters, Billie, 15, and Georgia, 14, Dane said he raised them with all the traditions — the ones he grew up with, and the ones of his wife, actress Rebecca Gayheart (“All My Children,” “Beverly Hills, 90210”), who even said back in 2010 she considered converting to Judaism, not for Dane but because she loved Jewish traditions.
Back in 2020, Gayheart shared a picture of her two daughters lighting the menorah on the last night of Hanukkah.
For Dane, there was nothing more important than being a good dad. Gayheart shared in an article for The Cut that the moment he was diagnosed, all he wanted to do was spend time with their family. While the two had been separated, though not divorced, since 2017, Gayheart would drive with her daughters the 12 minutes to their father’s house multiple times a week and spend as much time there as possible.
Dane recorded the Netflix special so that he could leave a final message for his daughters. He ultimately left them with four pieces of advice that we could all use.
The first was to live in the present.
The second, to fall in love with something — not necessarily a person, but something that gets you excited. He said he fell in love with acting when he was around their age, and that “it got me through my darkest hours, my darkest days, my darkest years. My work doesn’t define me, but it excites me. Find something that excites you.”
The third piece of advice was to choose good friends and “allow them to find you… Just show up and love your friends with everything you have. Hang on to them. They will entertain you, support you and some will save.”
The last piece of advice for his daughters was, when faced with challenges, health or otherwise, “fight with every ounce of your being and with dignity.”
“I love you. Goodnight,” he said, letting that be the last line of the special, and his last message to the world — one of love for his children.
May his memory be for a blessing.
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