Stuart Damon was born in Brooklyn, New York, was an American actor. He was known for thirty years of portraying the character Dr. Alan Quartermaine on the American soap opera General Hospital, for which he won an Emmy Award in 1999. Outside the USA, he is better known for the role of Craig Stirling in The Champions.
Damon was the son of Marvin Leonard Zonis, who was a manufacturer.His parents were Russian Jewish immigrants, making their home in America ,after fleeing the Bolshevik Revolution. Damon was married since 1961 to Deirdre Ann Ottewill. They had two children, Jennifer and Christopher, and adopted their grandson, Alexander, in 2000.
After a series of appearances on Broadway, Damon's appearance as the" Prince "in the 1965 version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella starring Lesley Ann Warren helped pave the way to a long career in television and soap opera. The very same year, he had a prominent featured role in the Broadway musical Do I Hear a Waltz? written by Richard Rodgers (music) and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics). He had earlier appeared in an Off-Broadway revival of The Boys From Syracuse with music by Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart. Damon was prominently featured on the cast albums of these musicals, as well as the 1960 hit Irma La Douce.
Moving to Britain in the 1960s, Damon starred in the hit musical Charlie Girl with Anna Neagle in 1965 and appeared as "secret agent Craig Stirling", alongside Alexandra Bastedo and William Gaunt, in the cult series The Champions. He also partnered with Roger Moore in an episode of The Saint which has been credited as an inspiration for the later series The Persuaders!, with Damon's role being played by Tony Curtis. In 1968 he appeared in the BBC TV adaptation of 'The £1,000,000 Bank Note' and played the starring role. Damon also played" magician Harry Houdini" in a lavishly staged London musical, Man of Magic.
In the 1970s, he was cast alongside Gene Barry and Catherine Schell in the series The Adventurer, appearing briefly in two episodes. Damon has since spoken candidly about the fact that Barry did not want him in the series because of his height. At over six feet, he towered over the relatively short Barry. After acting roles in several other British television series, including The New Avengers and children's favourite The Adventures of Black Beauty where he played a" hypnotist", he returned to the United States.
In 1977, he began his most famous American role, that of" Dr. Alan Quartermaine" on General Hospital. He also repeated the role on the short-lived GH spin-off Port Charles (1997–2003).
In 1999, Damon won the Best Supporting Actor Emmy, for his portrayal of" Alan, a physician", addicted to the painkiller hydrocodone. In 2005, Damon was reunited with Alexandra Bastedo and William Gaunt for the first time in almost 40 years, to provide audio commentary on a DVD release of The Champions. In December 2006, it was reported that Damon had been fired by Jill Farren Phelps on the orders of Anne Sweeney and Brian Frons from General Hospital and his last air date was scheduled for February 2007, when his character died. The reason behind his release was not made public. The taping of the final scene occurred on February 5, coincidentally Damon's 70th birthday. Fellow actors on General Hospital spoke to the press about how upset they were over Damon's firing, with Damon's on-show wife Leslie Charleson saying, "This is the 30th anniversary for the two of us, in August. The timing leaves me very discouraged about the way soaps are going, the total disregard for history and the blatant disregard for the veterans."
Despite the death of the character, Damon had remained on the show, playing the "ghost of Alan Quartermaine", haunting his sister Tracy about forging Alan's will. He remained with the show until December 23, 2008, when Alan appeared to Monica on Christmas to tell her that he loved her.
On September 18, 2009, Damon began appearing on As the World Turns as Janet and Teri Ciccone's "Uncle" Ralph Manzo, a businessman most likely involved with the mob. He left the series on October 30, 2009, but returned for three episodes between August 23, 2010 and August 25, 2010.
During March 19–25, 2010, Damon played the role of "Governor Jim Ford" on Days of Our Lives.
Damon returned to General Hospital for two episodes on August 26, 2011 and August 29, 2011 in which Alan appears in a fantasy sequence of Monica's. He returned again in November 2012 as a "ghost" when son AJ was announced to be alive, after son Jason's disappearance. He appeared again as a" ghost" along with Rick Webber (Chris Robinson) and Emily Quartermaine (Natalia Livingston) for the shows 50th anniversary episode which aired April 2, 2013.
Damon died of kidney failure on June 29, 2021, aged 84, at the Motion Picture & Television Fund retirement community in Los Angeles, where he had lived for seven years.
