Quinn K. Redeker Dead: ‘The Young And The Restless’ Actor Was 86

Quinn Redeker at Soap Opera Digest Awards 1993 Getty Images

Quinn K. Redeker, a prolific television and film actor whose career spanned more than 50 years and included fan-favorite stints on NBC’s Days of Our Lives and CBS’ The Young and The Restless, died in Los Angeles of natural causes on Dec. 20. He was 86.

His death was announced by his family.

Redeker was probably best known for his portrayal of the villainous Alex Marshall on Days of Our Lives from 1979 to 1987, and, from 1987 to 1994, as wealthy businessman Rex Sterling on The Young and the Restless (Redeker had briefly played two other characters on Restless prior to his casting as Sterling).

His performance in the Rex Sterling role earned Redeker two nominations for Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (1989 and 1990).

In addition to an acting career that encompassed leading man roles and character parts, Redeker received a story credit and Oscar nomination for Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter (1978). The film was based in part on an unproduced screenplay titled The Man Who Came to Play written by Redeker and Louis A. Garfinkle.

A familiar face on television for decades, Redeker made numerous guest appearances on episodic series including Bonanza, That Girl, Mannix, Ironside, Mayberry R.F.D., Adam-12, The Bob Newhart Show, Kojak, Cannon, The Six Million Dollar Man and Supernatural, to name a sample.

On the big screen, his films varied from The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962) to Where The Buffalo Roam (1980).

A role in 1972’s The Candidate starring Robert Redford began an association between the two actors that would include reuniting with Redford in 1979’s The Electric Horseman. When Redford made his feature directing debut with the celebrated Ordinary People in 1980, he cast Redeker in a small but emotional scene as the golf-playing brother of the grieving Beth (played by Mary Tyler Moore).

Redeker is survived by his adult children Brennen, Arianne, Glaen, and Quinn Jr., and two grandchildren.