Nicholas Coster, the 89-year-old actor best known for portraying Lionel Lockridge on the television series Santa Barbara, has died in a Florida hospital. The Mirror reported the news, citing his daughter Dinnin Coster.
In a note posted on social media, Coster’s daughter shared the family’s grief and celebrated her father’s body of work. She wrote, 10llo in my heart tonight that my father, actor Nicholas Coster, died in a Florida hospital at 9:01 pm,d urging fans to find inspiration in his legacy and to remember him as a devoted dad. Rest in peace, she added.
Fellow Santa Barbara star Adolfo Martinez, who played Cruz Castillo, commented that it was an honor to work with Coster and that his friendship and professional integrity would be cherished forever.
Fans on social media hailed Coster as among the best, with one admirer noting that he was one of the greatest soap opera actors of all time.
Nicholas Coster was born December 3, 1933, in London. His mother was American and his father, a New Zealand theatre critic and sailor, influenced his early life before the family spent much of Costers youth in California. To pursue acting, he studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in England, performing at venues such as Londonfs Broadway and Victoria Theatre, where he shared the stage with distinguished names including Elizabeth Taylor.
Coster launched his television career with NBC in the soap Young Doctor Malone, which ran from 1958 to 1963. He later appeared in Hidden Storm in 1964 and again from 1967 to 1968. He also played John Aldrich on the soap Our Inner World, with prior work that included Somerset (197076), Another World (196499), and One Life to Live (196812). His most enduring fame came from Santa Barbara, where he appeared in two stretches, first from 1984 to 1988 and again from 1990 to 1993.
The Santa Barbara era made Coster a familiar face across the region, and the series became one of the first soap operas to air in the Commonwealth of Independent States after the Soviet Union dissolved. It remains one of the most widely watched and longest-running shows in Russia, with a total of more than two thousand episodes produced.
Beyond Santa Barbara, Coster added credits to his résumé with roles on All My Children (197071) and The Facts of Life (197988). He also appeared on Beverly Hills, 90210, War of the Worlds, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Murder, She Wrote, Law & Order, and guest appearances in later years on series such as The Young Pope. One of his latest projects was the series Rookie: The Federals in 2022.
Though best known for television work, Coster occasionally ventured into film. He contributed to acclaimed projects including All the Presidentfs Men and Reds, which earned recognition in the broader film community. His career was acknowledged with an Emmy in 2017 for the role of Mayor Jack Madison in The Bay.
Throughout his life, Coster maintained a family rhythm with several marriages and three children, including two daughters and a son. In 2010, he began a long-distance relationship with Elena Borodulina, a Muscovite, after she was moved by his Santa Barbara performance. The couple eventually met in person, and she moved to join him, formalizing their relationship after years of correspondence.
Apart from acting, Coster was a dedicated diving instructor and established a foundation that organizes boat trips and diving training for people with disabilities, underscoring his commitment to accessible recreation and community service.
Source attribution for these details is The Mirror; additional biographical context draws on career records and archival interviews.