Grey's Anatomy and General Hospital actor Jack Axelrod dies aged 93

"I had the pleasure of spending a lot of time with him in his last years, as he had no immediate family,’ Garland said in a statement to Entertainment Weekly.

"We spent much time outdoors, where Jack loved to sketch, read news articles and recite Shakespearean sonnets."

Axelrod had been a star since the early 70s and had over 89 credits to his name, including iconic shows such as Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Modern Family, Dynasty, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

He was born in Los Angeles on 25th January 1930, and later served as a corporal in the United States Army, being stationed in Germany from 1953 until 1955.

He went on to study architecture at the University of California, Berkeley and became a licensed architect in Washington state.

While maintaining his career as an architect, he played Banquo in an off-Broadway production of Macbeth that premiered in 1969, as reported by Variety.

After years of theatre productions and off-Broadway, Axelrod got his big break in 1971 when he starred in Woody Allen's film Bananas.

His biggest and best known role was on US daytime drama General Hospital, in which he starred as the mob boss Victor Jerome in the late 80s.

He also appeared in Grey's Anatomy, where he played bed bound, semi-conscious patient Charlie Yost, and was a regular on the Channel 4 comedy My Name is Earl, playing the 'Electrolarynx Guy’.

His work extended to the big screen, with several movies such as Hancock (2008), Little Fockers (2010) and Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011), to his name.

Axelrod retired from acting in 2020, however, continued to share his love of acting with the world as he taught in the theatre departments of several universities and was a guest teacher at the Aaron Speiser Acting Studio in Los Angeles prior to his death.

The actor's final appearance was in the 2020 feature film Bad Therapy.