Tristan Rogers, General Hospital actor, dies at 79 after cancer diagnosis

Tristan Rogers, best known for starring as Robert Scorpio in the long-running soap opera “General Hospital,” has died. He was 79. 

“General Hospital” Executive Producer Frank Valentini announced Rogers’ death in a personal statement shared on the ABC TV series’ official Instagram page Friday. Last month, Rogers’ representative confirmed to Fox News Digital that the actor had been diagnosed with cancer.

“The entire General Hospital family is heartbroken to hear of Tristan Rogers’ passing,” Valentini wrote alongside a photo of Rogers.

“Tristan has captivated our fans for more than 50 years and Port Charles will not be the same without him (or Robert Scorpio),” he continued. “I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to his family and friends during this difficult time. Tristan was a one-of-a-kind talent and will be greatly missed. May he rest in peace.”

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Rogers appeared in more than 1,400 episodes of “General Hospital” over more than four decades.

The Australian actor first began playing the Scorpio role in 1980. He briefly left the series in 1992 when his character was killed off, only to reappear in 1995 as a spirit, before returning to the show in 2006 when his character was found alive again.

He appeared in a dozen episodes of “General Hospital: Night Shift,” and his character’s last appearance on “General Hospital” was on Nov. 12, when Scorpio left town with his ex, Holly Sutton. 

“Robert has always had kind of a glib approach to everything; he’s a bit of a smart-mouth,” he told Soap Opera Digest in 2018. “I’m working with a lot of different people. … And I think the fans are going to like it.”

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In addition to his role on “General Hospital,” Rogers starred as Colin Atkinson on the CBS soap opera “The Young and the Restless” He appeared in nearly 200 episodes of the show from 2010 to 2012. 

He earned a daytime Emmy in 2020 for outstanding performance by a supporting actor in a digital drama series for his work on “Studio City.” Rogers was then nominated the following year for “The Bay.”

With more than 50 credits to his name, Rogers dabbled in voice work and voiced the character of Jake in “The Rescuers Down Under.”

Fox News Digital’s Tracy Wright contributed to this report.