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Actor Joe Marinelli, best known for roles on The Morning Show and Santa Barbara has died at the age of 68 following a battle with throat and stomach cancer, his agent, Julie Smith, confirmed in an email to CNN on Tuesday (June 24).
No additional details regarding Marinelli's death were made public at the time of publication. Marinelli was credited for more than 50 acting roles, the majority of which were guest roles on popular television shows, as well as playing Bunny Tagliatti for 171 episodes on the NBC soap opera Santa Barbara from 1988 to 1990; Joseph Sorel on the ABC soap opera General Hospital for 14 episodes from 1999 to 2001; and Donny Spagnoli on the Apple TV drama The Morning Show in 22 episodes from 2019 to 2023.
The actor won a Soap Opera Digest Award for his role as Tagliatti, a cross-dressing mobster, on Santa Barbara in 1990.
“It saddens me greatly to say goodbye to my old friend and his belief in the goodness, and even the possible greatness of the human adventure,” Santa Barbara co-star Leigh J. McCloskey wrote on Facebook. “I’m glad I walked this earth with you Joe.”
Marinelli's other roles included appearances on Cagney & Lacey, Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law in the mid-1980s; ER, JAG and The King of Queens through the 1990s; The West Wing, NYPD Blue and House in the 2000s; and Insecure, Hollywood and The Offer in recent years. The actor also appeared in the Academy Award nominated film Sideways in 2004.