Actor Robin Sachs Dies at 61

Robin Sachs, who played the evil sorcerer Ethan Rayne on TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, died unexpectedly from unknown causes Feb. 1, four days before his 62nd birthday.

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•Obituaries

"It is with great sadness that we have to announce the sudden and unexpected passing of Robin Sachs," his website reads. "Please join us in raising a glass to Robin -- goodbye, dear friend. Thank you for all the laughter and the cookies. We will miss you so very much."

The London-born Sachs found steady work during his career in such sci-fi/fantasy projects as Babylon 5, Star Trek: Voyager, the animated Fantastic Four (as the voice of the Silver Surfer) and Torchwood and in the films The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Ravager (1997), as the bad guy General Sarris in Galaxy Quest (1999) and Northfork (2003).

His other credits include playing Adam Carrington in the 1991 miniseries Dynasty: The Reunion, Walker, Texas Ranger, SpongeBob SquarePants, Alias and Ocean's Eleven (2001). Most recently, he appeared in NCIS and Castle.

Sachs also provided the voice of bounty hunter Zaeed Massani in the video game series Mass Effect and had voice roles in Resident Evil: Damnation, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days.

Sachs' first film role was in Vampire Circus (1972) from Britain's Hammer Film Productions.

Sachs' parents were actors Leonard Sachs and Eleanor Summerfield. He was married to actress Sian Phillips from 1979–91 and to actress Casey DeFranco from 2001-06. DeFranco called him "a wonderful, loving man and an extraordinarily talented actor."

Survivors include his brother Toby, sister-in-law Penelope, niece Kerry and stepchildren Kate, Pat and Joseph.

A memorial service is set for Saturday in Santa Monica. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to California Pit Bull Rescue.