Pat Finn, who appeared in ‘The Middle,’ ‘Friends’ and ‘Seinfeld,’ dead at 60
Pat Finn attends ABC’s ‘The Middle’ 200th episodes celebration on October 28, 2017 in West Hollywood, California. (Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic)
Actor and comedian Patrick Finn, best known for his role in ABC’s The Middle, has died, according to a statement from his family.
Finn, 60, died on Dec. 22 following a three-year battle with cancer, which had been in remission but then returned.
Finn began his career as an improv comedian alongside his college pal Chris Farley. His first big break in television came on The George Wendt Show, where he played the brother of Wendt’s character, George Coleman. He went on to recurring roles in shows like Murphy Brown and 3rd Rock from the Sun, and played Bill Norwood on The Middle from 2010 to 2018.
Seinfeld fans knew Finn as Joe Mayo, a character in the episode “The Reverse Peephole,” while Friends fans would remember him as Dr. Roger, Monica’s boyfriend in the episodes “The One That Could Have Been, Part 1” and “The One That Could Have Been, Part 2.”
Finn also appeared in films like Dude, Where’s My Car and It’s Complicated, and was an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado and his alma mater, Marquette University.
He’s survived by his wife, Donna Finn, and their three children as well as his parents and siblings.
(This is an updated version of a story that was originally published Dec. 25, 2025 at 3:53 p.m.)
Marvel has publicly released the first teaser trailer for Avengers: Doomsday, and it stars Chris Evans back in his role of the former Captain America, Steve Rogers. This teaser trailer, which was released Tuesday, arrives after footage leaked of it playing in theaters ahead of early screenings of Avatar: Fire and Ash.
The trailer finds Steve riding a motorcycle up to a farmhouse where he presumably lives. We see a close-up of his hand, showing off that he wears a wedding band on his ring finger. As the Avengers main theme plays, Steve then heads inside the home, where he cradles a newborn baby close to his chest.
He also pulls his Captain America suit out of storage to give it a nostalgic once-over.
The teaser ends with a black screen and text that reads, “Steve Rogers will return in Avengers: Doomsday.”
Directors Anthony Russo and Joe Russo took to Instagram to share the new teaser, writing, “The character that changed our lives. The story that brought us all here together. It was always going to come back to this.”
Evans has not appeared as Steve Rogers in a Marvel Cinematic Universe film since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, where he passed the title of Captain America on to his close friend, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie).
Avengers: Doomsday will arrive in theaters on Dec. 18, 2026.
The 98th Academy Awards air March 15 on ABC and will also stream live on Hulu.
The 98th Academy Awards will be held Sunday, where the best movies from the past year will be honored and celebrated.
Comedian Conan O’Brien will host the ceremony for the second time. At the 98th Oscars Creative Team press conference, the ceremony’s executive producer and showrunner, Raj Kapoor, said this year’s Oscars theme is humanity.
“Everything that you see in the show is inspired by human touch and creativity,” Kapoor said. “We’ve completely redesigned what the stage looks like. It’s very immersive. We hope all our nominees are celebrated in a very big way. We have beautiful photos and clips and nomination packages that a lot of time and thought and care has been put into.”
As for specific teases and surprises that will happen during the show, Kapoor confirmed a rumored reunion happening onstage.
“We are very excited to announce that we have a Bridesmaids reunion that is going to be very special,” Kapoor said.
Executive producer Katy Mullan teased two other surprises.
“There’s also going to be a Marvel reunion for the superhero fans. So we’re gonna have superstars, superheroes and there is also gonna be an extraterrestrial on the stage, so you can figure that one out,” Mullan said.
The Oscars will take place on Sunday at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood. The show will air live on ABC and will also stream live on Hulu.
Eric Dane attends the Global Down Syndrome Foundation’s 14th Annual Be Beautiful Be Yourself Fashion Show on November 12, 2022 in Denver, Colorado. (Thomas Cooper/Getty Images for Global Down Syn)
Friends and former costars of Eric Dane are paying tribute to the actor after his death at the age of 53.
Dane’s death was confirmed Thursday by ABC News.
The actor, a father of two, revealed in April 2025 that he’d been battling the incurable degenerative neurological disorder amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.
As recently as December, Dane said on a panel that he hoped to continue acting in roles involving ALS, saying, “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.”
Actor Ashton Kutcher, a friend of Dane’s, was among the first to publicly pay tribute to the late Grey’s Anatomy star, writing on X Thursday, “The Franklin strip fanatics fantasy football league will miss Mr. Eric Dane. We know you’ll be watching from the booth. Miss you, buddy. Let’s keep fighting the fight to solve ALS.”
Dane’s Grey’s Anatomy costar Patrick Dempsey remembered his friend during an appearance on a radio show Friday, saying in part, “He was the funniest man. He was such a joy to work with. And I just want to remember him in that spirit because anytime he was on set, he brought so much fun to it. He had a great sense of humor … we got along instantly.”
In addition to Grey’s Anatomy, on which he portrayed Dr. Mark Sloan, Dane also starred in shows including Charmed, Euphoria and Countdown as well as films including Marley & Me and Bad Boys: Ride or Die, according to his IMDb biography.
Alyssa Milano, who costarred with Dane on Charmed, shared photos of Dane on Instagram, writing in part, “I can’t stop seeing that 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. He had a razor-sharp sense of humor. He loved the absurdity of things. He loved catching people off guard. And when it came to his daughters and Rebecca, everything in him softened. He carried them with him even in rooms where they weren’t present. You could see it in the way his voice changed when he said their names. A breathtakingly beautiful family.”
Journalist Maria Shriver, whose publishing imprint published Dane’s memoir, also paid tribute, writing on Instagram, “What a tragedy. He was so heroic the way he handled his diagnosis. He used his voice to let the world know what it was like living with ALS.”
I Am ALS, an advocacy group Dane worked with, shared a statement after the actor’s death, saying, “Eric brought humility, humor, and visibility to ALS and reminded the world that progress is possible when we refuse to remain silent.”
Born on Nov. 9, 1972, in San Francisco, Dane caught the acting bug in high school and made his television debut in a 1991 episode of Saved by the Bell.
Dane is survived by his two daughters, whom he shares with the actress Rebecca Gayheart.
Gayheart and Dane married in October 2004. Gayheart filed for divorce in 2018 but later requested to dismiss that petition in March 2025, a month before Dane went public with his ALS diagnosis.
