Robert Urich (December 19, 1946 – April 16, 2002) was an American actor. He played the starring role in the television series Spenser: For Hire (1985–1988) and Vega$ (1978–1981). He also appeared in other television series over the years including: S.W.A.T. (1975), Soap (1977), and The Lazarus Man (1996), as well as in several feature films including Turk 182!, The Ice Pirates, and Magnum Force. Urich died in 2002 in Thousand Oaks, California. The actor announced in 1996 that he was suffering from synovial cell sarcoma, a rare cancer that attacks the body's joints, for which he underwent several treatments during the last years of his life.