RIP Stephen Furst

[PerrySimm]

Stephen Furst, who was Vir Cotto on Babylon 5, has passed away.

[Steve]

Another has passed beyond the Rim...

[Rocketboy1313]

He was in another science fiction series that is less revered but I still consider a big part of what I like about the genre.
"Buzz Lightyear of Star Command" where he played the can do rookie, Booster.

[MadAmosMalone]

Heard about his passing, yesterday. Very sad. B5 was my favorite show and Vir was my favorite character. I'm beginning to wonder if this show is somehow "cursed." Michael O'Hare, Andreas Katsulas, Richard Biggs, Jerry Doyle, Jeff Conaway and that's just from the main cast. Tim Choate who played Zathras, the guy who played Dr. Kyle (sorry can't remember the actor's name right off) and lots of other guest stars, all gone. There were also some casualties among the production crew such as Douglas Netter. Some were, of course, not entirely unexpected because of age but it's often alarming how many have died who worked on this show. I'm surprised there isn't a conspiracy theory about it.

[Anduinel]

Heard about his passing, yesterday. Very sad. B5 was my favorite show and Vir was my favorite character. I'm beginning to wonder if this show is somehow "cursed." Michael O'Hare, Andreas Katsulas, Richard Biggs, Jerry Doyle, Jeff Conaway and that's just from the main cast. Tim Choate who played Zathras, the guy who played Dr. Kyle (sorry can't remember the actor's name right off) and lots of other guest stars, all gone. There were also some casualties among the production crew such as Douglas Netter. Some were, of course, not entirely unexpected because of age but it's often alarming how many have died who worked on this show. I'm surprised there isn't a conspiracy theory about it.

There were a lot of factors among some of the cast that would have contributed to somewhat shorter lifespans. Doyle and Conaway struggled with addictions. Katsulas was a heavy smoker and died of lung cancer. Furst had medical issues related to hereditary diabetes; if not for a donated kidney, he probably would have passed on sooner. O'Hare's mental illness would have been tremendously stressful, not to mention compromised the level of self-care he was able to attend to.

That makes it no less sad that we've lost so many of this talented crew. It's just not alarming.