• Dane died Thursday surrounded by family, less than a year after publicly revealing his ALS diagnosis
• His Netflix special “Famous Last Words” was released Friday with a final message to his daughters
• ALS advocacy groups say his visibility brought unprecedented attention but research funding gaps persist

LOS ANGELES, CA (TDR) — Eric Dane, the actor who became a household name as Dr. Mark “McSteamy” Sloan on Grey’s Anatomy and later earned career-best reviews on HBO’s Euphoria, died Thursday at 53 following a battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. He was surrounded by his wife, actress Rebecca Gayheart, and their two daughters, Billie, 15, and Georgia, 14.

What distinguished Dane’s final chapter was not how he died but what he did with the time he had left. In the 10 months between his public diagnosis in April 2025 and his death, Dane transformed from a working actor into one of the most visible ALS advocates in a decade — joining the Target ALS Foundation, earning a spot on the TIME100 Health list and recording a posthumous Netflix interview intended to outlive him.

“I think it’s imperative that I share my journey with as many people as I can because I don’t feel like my life is about me anymore.”

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A Career Defined By Reinvention

Born Nov. 9, 1972, in San Francisco, Dane lost his father — a Navy veteran — to a gunshot wound when he was 7. After falling in love with acting through a high school production of Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons,” he moved to Los Angeles and spent years grinding through guest spots on “Saved by the Bell,” “Married … With Children” and “Charmed” before landing the role that would define an era of primetime television.

Introduced on Grey’s Anatomy in 2006 as a recurring guest character, Dane’s Dr. Mark Sloan became so popular that producers promoted him to series regular. The role made him famous. It did not, by his own admission, make him comfortable.

“I don’t know that I necessarily felt comfortable being McSteamy, so much so that I think that may be the third time I’ve actually said that name.”

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His later work proved the range. As Cal Jacobs on Euphoria, Dane delivered a performance built on repression and self-destruction that critics called a revelation. Season 3 — featuring what will now stand as his final performances — premieres April 12.

The Advocacy That Defined His Final Year

Dane’s ALS symptoms began with weakness in his right hand before his diagnosis. By June 2025, during his first television interview since going public, he told Good Morning America his right arm had “completely stopped working.” He continued filming Euphoria.

Rather than retreat, Dane leaned into public life with a deliberateness his co-stars described as characteristic. He appeared at ALS fundraising events, spoke at medical conferences and used every interview to redirect attention from his celebrity to the disease.

“I have no reason to be in a good spirit at any time, on any given day. I don’t think anybody would blame me if I went upstairs in my bedroom, crawled under the sheets, and spent the next two weeks crying. And I was a little bit pleasantly surprised when I realized that I wasn’t built like that.”

The ALS Association said in a statement that Dane “didn’t just fight for himself — he fought for everyone living with ALS and their loved ones. He advocated for ALS research funding, raised awareness, and never stopped.”

The nonprofit I Am ALS, which worked directly with Dane, added that he “brought humility, humor, and visibility to ALS and reminded the world that progress is possible when we refuse to remain silent.”

Famous Last Words

In November 2025, Dane sat down with producer Brad Falchuk for a confidential Netflix taping — an hour-long conversation he understood would only air after his death. The special, “Famous Last Words: Eric Dane,” was released Friday.

At the end of the interview, Falchuk left the room. Dane looked into the camera and spoke directly to Billie and Georgia.

“I tried. I stumbled sometimes, but I tried. Overall we had a blast, didn’t we? I remember all the times we spent at the beach, the two of you, me and Mom — in Malibu, Santa Monica, Hawaii, Mexico. I see you now, playing in the ocean for hours, my water babies. Those days — pun intended — were heaven.”

He shared four lessons ALS had taught him: live in the present, love your friends, fight with dignity and never surrender your spirit.

“Fight with every ounce of your being and with dignity. When you face challenges, health or otherwise, fight. Never give up. Fight until your last breath.”

Dane also addressed his relationship with Gayheart. The couple married in 2004 and separated in 2017. She filed for divorce in 2018 but withdrew the filing in March 2025 — one month before his public diagnosis.

“I will never, by the time anybody sees this, have fallen in love with another woman as deeply as I fell in love with Rebecca.”

The ALS Funding Question

Dane’s advocacy arrives at a familiar crossroads for the ALS community. The Ice Bucket Challenge of 2014 raised over $115 million for the ALS Association and generated unprecedented public awareness. Within two years, attention had largely moved on. The disease remained what it has always been: relentlessly fatal, with no cure.

ALS affects roughly 30,000 Americans at any given time, with about 5,000 new diagnoses annually. Most patients die from respiratory failure within two to five years. The most effective drug approved in the past decade extends survival by a matter of months. Military veterans and firefighters face roughly double the risk of the general population, though researchers still cannot fully explain why.

The pattern is well-documented: celebrity visibility generates an emotional outpouring — tributes, hashtags, donations — but sustained research funding requires structural commitment that outlasts the news cycle.

Hollywood Remembers

Tributes poured in from across the entertainment industry. Patrick Dempsey, Dane’s Grey’s Anatomy co-star, said he had been texting with Dane as recently as a week ago.

“He was the funniest man — he was such a joy to work with and I want to just remember him in that spirit.”

Ashton Kutcher referenced a celebrity fantasy football league the two shared, writing on X: “Let’s keep fighting the fight to solve ALS.”

Alyssa Milano, who starred with Dane on “Charmed,” recalled the “spark in Eric’s eye right before he’d say something that would either make you spit out your drink or rethink your entire perspective.”

Kim Raver, his Grey’s Anatomy co-star, called him “a light” who “led with kindness and made everyone on our set feel seen.”

Dane is survived by Gayheart and their daughters. A memoir, “Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments,” is scheduled for publication in late 2026 through Maria Shriver’s The Open Field imprint at Penguin Random House.

Eric Dane turned his diagnosis into a platform that brought ALS back into the national conversation — but will the attention his death generates translate into sustained research funding, or will it follow the same pattern the Ice Bucket Challenge established a decade ago?

Sources

This report was compiled using information from CNN’s obituary of Eric Dane, CBS News’ reporting on his death and ALS advocacy, TODAY’s coverage of his ALS timeline, TODAY’s report on his Netflix special, Netflix Tudum’s feature on the Famous Last Words documentary, The Wrap’s coverage of the posthumous interview, Men’s Journal’s report on his cause of death, DMNews’ analysis of his advocacy legacy, Parade’s coverage of his final days, The Hartford Courant’s tribute roundup, and TMZ’s compilation of celebrity remembrances.

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