Coronation Street star John Saint Ryan has died at the age of 72.
The actor played a small role in two episodes of Emmerdale in 1987, before moving over to Coronation Street for a multi-year, 60-episode stint as Charlie Whelan between 1987 and 1993.
He also appeared in many American shows, including MacGyver, The Twilight Zone, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Babylon 5, Murder, She Wrote, and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.
Many of his years were dedicated to his other career: raising, training, and selling horses from his ranch near California.
His death was confirmed on his Facebook page in a post written by his wife Joyce and his family.
“JOHN SAINT RYAN (02/11/53 to 04/03/25),” the post reads.
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“I and our family want to let our friends know that John had a heart attack the evening of Thursday 3rd of April. We were with him at the hospital where the staff did everything possible but unfortunately he did not survive.
“We are absolutely heartbroken. John wanted to aid medical research and donated his body, so there will not be a funeral. Later, we will arrange a celebration of his wonderful life.
“We are all fortunate to have known and loved this special ‘Gentleman’ as he has been described to me numerous times over the last couple of days.”
During his time on Corrie, John’s character Charlie had a relationship with Bet Lynch (then known as Bet Gilroy), played by Julie Goodyear.
Julie’s husband shared an update on how his wife was doing recently, following her dementia diagnosis in 2023.
Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.
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