Longtime soap opera star Ron Hale, whose decades of work included hundreds of episodes of “Ryan’s Hope” and “General Hospital,” has died at age 78. “General Hospital” announced the news early Thursday morning. “The entire ‘General Hospital’ family is saddened to hear of Ron Hale’s passing,” the ABC soap wrote on social media. “He was an incredible actor and an unforgettable colleague. May he rest in peace.” The veteran actor died on Aug. 27, according to his online obituary. Law enforcement sources told TMZ on Thursday he died of natural causes at his home in St. George, S.C., but did not give a specific cause of death. Hale played Dr. Roger Coleridge on more than 900 episodes of “Ryan’s Hope” between 1975 and 1989, and then portrayed Mike Cobin on more than 230 episodes of “General Hospital” from 1995 to 2010. He also appeared regularly on the “General Hospital” spinoff series “Port Charles” from 1997 to 2000. Ron Hale and Laura Wright are pictured in an episode of “General Hospital,” in 2006. (Carol Kaelson / ©ABC / Courtesy Everett Collection) Hale received consecutive Daytime Emmy Award nominations in 1979 and 1980 for his work on “Ryan’s Hope,” as well as a Soap Opera Digest Award nomination in 1986. In 2012, he was honored with a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars. TV producer Brooke Eaton, who worked as a production assistant on “General Hospital,” honored the actor online. “My heart is heavy tonight,” she wrote on his obituary page Thursday morning. “Ron, you were a great friend and confidante during those GH years. We had great laughs.” Fellow soap opera star Billy Warlock, whose credits include “General Hospital,” “As the World Turns,” “Days of Our Lives” and “The Young and the Restless,” also mourned the loss of a friend. “It’s with a heavy heart that we’ve lost another great one,” Warlock wrote on X. “Ron was an amazing talent and an even better friend.” Hale is survived by several nieces and nephews.