Legendary American TV actor Ray MacDonnell, known best for playing the character Dr. Joe Martin on the long-running soap opera All My Children, has passed away. He was 93. The Emmy-winning stage and TV actor's daughter Sarah MacDonnell confirmed on Monday to Michael Fairman TV stating that her father had passed away from natural causes at their residence in Chappaqua. MacDonell, hailing from Massachusetts, attended Amherst College and the Royal Academy in London as a Fulbright scholar, after which he took up acting as a full-time profession in 1953 during the "golden age" of live TV broadcasts. It was at that time that the eminent New York actor worked alongside TV legends like Jack Benny and Robert Montgomery. MacDonnell is survived by his wife Patricia and his three children: Daniel, Sarah and Kyle.

Ray MacDonnell also went on to portray the iconic comic book character Dick Tracy in a TV series pilot in 1967 and subsequently landed the role that defined his career three years later when he became an original cast member on All My Children. He was cast in the show, which revolved around the lives of a number of families in the fictional town of Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, and continued to act in his role as Dr. Joe Martin for more than four decades. Honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2004 Daytime Emmys, MacDonnell announced his retirement from acting in 2009. However, he made a brief return to the hit show once again for the much-hyped final episode in 2011. He reprised his role in 2013 for the online reboot of the soap opera, which only had a short run. 

Outside of his work on All My Children, Ray MacDonnell played the role of the businessman Philip Capice on the soap opera The Edge of Night, which was telecast from 1961 to 1969. He also made a name for himself as a stage actor having appeared on Broadway opposite Angela Lansbury and Ann Miller in the Tony Award-winning musical, Mame, from 1966 and 1970 at the Winter Garden Theatre.