Actor Michael Newman of Baywatch died on Sunday, 18 years after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. He was 68.
Newman, who brought his real-world lifeguarding experience to play Michael “Newmie” Newman on the successful ’80s and ’90s soapy drama, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2006.
His close friend, director Matt Felker, announced news of Newman’s death on social media on Monday.
Felker, who directed the reflective docuseries After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun, told People magazine that Newman died “from heart complications.”
He said Newman was “surrounded by his family and friends” at the time of his death.
On social media, Felker wrote, “Mike was not only a real life hero. He was a competitor through and through.”
Felker said there were often times while producing the Baywatch docuseries that he wanted to “throw it all in the trash,” but didn’t because of Newman’s enthusiasm and support.
The series, which premiered this year, profiles the lives Baywatch stars today and discusses much of the cast’s journey to fame.
“I got to see Mike before he passed away. He was unconscious mostly… when I showed up he was awake almost like a miracle and looked at me and said ‘you’re just in time’ and laughed,” Felker recalled. “That was Mike. He found humor all the way until the end.”
In August, while promoting After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun, Newman said his Parkinson’s diagnosis has brought “a lot of thinking time, which I maybe didn’t want, but it’s brought me wisdom.”
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“My body has changed so slowly that I hardly notice it, yet I am constantly reminded that Parkinson’s has now become the centre of my life,” he said.
Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative movement disorder of the nervous system that progresses slowly. A person may first experience something like hand tremors before symptoms become worse over time. The disease impacts bodily functions like balance, speech and movement. There is no cure.
Newman appeared in 150 episodes of Baywatch, which ran from 1989 to 2001. He was the only cast member to have actual lifeguarding experience. The series famously starred David Hasselhoff, Pamela Anderson, Nicole Eggert and Alexandra Paul, among many others.
Newman also appeared in the spinoff series Baywatch Nights and the 1998 film Baywatch: White Thunder at Glacier Bay.
Besides acting, Newman was also a full-time firefighter and retired after 25 years of service, even balancing firefighting with his Baywatch filming schedule.
He was an advocate for Parkinson’s research and spent much of the last decade raising money for the Michael J. Fox Foundation, which is dedicated to the search for a cure.
Newman is survived by his wife, Sarah, his children, son Chris and daughter Emily, and his granddaughter, Charlie.
According to Parkinson’s Canada, more than 12,500 people in the country were diagnosed with the disease between 2019 and 2020. In that same time frame, there were believed to be more than 103,000 cases of Parkinson’s in Canada.
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