The Australian actor began playing Robert Scorpio on the daytime soap opera in 1980

Tristan Rogers on ‘General Hospital’ in 1982 (left); Tristan Rogers on ‘General Hospital’ in 2012 (right).Credit : ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty; Rick Rowell/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Tristan Rogers has died at the age of 79. The Australian actor was best known for playing Robert Scorpio on General Hospital. He first joined the soap opera in 1980.

His longtime manager, Meryl Soodak, confirmed his death to ABC 7 Eyewitness News on Friday, Aug. 15. It was revealed in July that Rogers has been diagnosed with cancer.

Soodak told the outlet that Rogers’ General Hospital role “meant everything to him.”

“He loved being Scorpio and he created that role from nothing,” Soodak continued. “He was supposed to work a day and he ended up making it into something huge. He was just a genuinely loyal, kind human being and he loved his family.”

In response to the news, General Hospital Executive Producer Frank Valentini shared a statement with PEOPLE.

“The entire General Hospital family is heartbroken to hear of Tristan Rogers’ passing. Tristan has captivated our fans for 45 years and Port Charles will not be the same without him (or Robert Scorpio),” Valentini said. “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.”

Tristan Rogers on ‘General Hospital’ in 1982.ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Rogers was born in Melbourne in 1946. He left school in 1964 and eventually started a rock band with his friends. At 21, he turned to modeling and commercials to make money. Then, he decided to become an actor — with no experience. “As far as I was concerned, it was a way to make a bit of money. That’s all,” he told Soap.com in 2022.

Many of his earliest roles came on Australian television. He appeared on the Aussie soaps Bellbird, Number 96 in 1974 and The Box in 1975. He also appeared in a few British films, including 1972’s Four Dimensions of Greta.

Rogers moved to the United States in 1980 and shortly after was cast as Robert Scorpio on General Hospital. Robert was a spy for the fictional World Security Bureau and later served as the police commissioner and district attorney of Port Charles. The character was good friends with Luke Spencer (played by Anthony Geary) and, in 1981, was part of Luke’s wedding to Laura (Genie Francis) as Luke’s best man. The wedding brought in 30 million viewers and remains the highest-rated soap opera episode in U.S. TV history.

Tristan Rogers and Emma Samms on ‘General Hospital’ in 1982.ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

“I didn’t know at the time the importance of General Hospital; it was just one more job for me,” he told Soap Opera Digest in 2020 about his casting. “But it was really exciting, to be fresh off the boat and walk into this role. Of course, after that, everywhere I went, people would go, ‘You’re on General Hospital? That’s the hottest thing in the country! You’re working with Luke and Laura? Oh, my God!’. . . . I got caught up in the General Hospital tidal wave and just got swept away by it.”

Robert eventually became a fan-favorite character and was one of the show’s leading men. He was killed off in 1992 and Rogers departed the series. But — as often happens on soaps — Robert returned, alive, in 2006, when the show brought back many popular characters from the ‘80s.

“I think this character will follow me to my grave,” he told The New York Times at the time.

From Left: ‘GH’ stars Peter Hansen, Jacklyn Zeman, Tristan Rogers, Leslie Charleson and Stuart Damon in 1983.ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Rogers continued to make sporadic appearances on General Hospital throughout the next decade, and since 2019, had appeared as a recurring character. “I’ve seen this show at its best and at something less than that,” he told PEOPLE in 2023 for the show’s 60th anniversary.

In 2008, Rogers took the character to the General Hospital spinoff General Hospital: Night Shift, where Robert learned he had colon cancer and reconnected with his family.

“This [storyline] was about the deconstruction of an iconic character done in a way it hadn’t been done before,” he told Entertainment Weekly at the time. “Characters like mine don’t get colon cancer. They get shot, they get beaten up, they get hit by trains. They don’t get colon cancer. It’s not very glamorous. I thought it was a hell of a challenge, more than the usual fare that you’re given going into this: Go through the investigation, find the bad guys, have a gunfight, get a schmooze….This was a whole different animal.”

Tristan Rogers in 2008.Kevin Winter/Getty

He added, “So I thought, maybe along the way, if somebody watches this and sees what we’re doing, they might go out and get tested. And if we inspired that, then it’s a bonus.”

Reflecting on the dominance of soap operas — and their decline — he said in an interview for the 2011 book The Survival of Soap Opera: “This is not a genre that will be around in another 50 years… in many respects, it isn’t necessary. They have made their mark, and almost every type of medium owes something to the way the soaps have been put together, whether they want to admit it or not.”

Tristan Rogers and Teresa Parkerson in 2013.Albert L. Ortega/Getty

Rogers’ other roles included an arc on The Young and the Restless from 2010 to 2011, as well as the TV series Fast Track and Babylon 5. He also did voiceover work, most notably in the 1990 Disney film The Rescuers Down Under, and won a Daytime Emmy for his performance in the 2019–2020 Prime Video series Studio City.