When Eric Dane first appeared on Grey’s Anatomy as Dr. Mark Sloan in its second season (episode 18), way back on February 19, 2006, he became an immediate sensation. Tall, strapping, remarkably handsome, and with a touch of the other kind of grey around his temples, Dane immediately earned the nickname “McSteamy,” countering his co-star, Patrick Dempsey’s “McDreamy. Not so terribly unlike a certain George Clooney, who found stardom on a medical drama (ER) well over a decade into the business and while hurtling towards middle age, Dane had many credits behind him, but few of note.
Dane first appeared on screen in a single episode of Saved by the Bell in 1989. For the next decade and a half, he hustled like many actors, getting a walk-on role in an episode of television here and there, and the occasional film role. Most of the parts Dane scored were far down the credit line, but he did earn some small amount of notoriety for scoring the lead in 2005’s Feast, the movie that won the right to be made on Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s film competition program, Project Greenlight. In Feast, Dane played “Hero,” and while the film gained little to no traction with critics or audiences, Project Greenlight was a popular show. I can say it’s the first time I can recall seeing him.
Dane was already 34 when he scored the prize role of the charming, confident, and womanizing Mark Sloan on Grey’s Anatomy. For an actor as good-looking as Dane, it struck many as a strange concept that it had taken him so long to find a role to make him famous. The part of Sloan fit Dane like a glove. He made it look so easy that I don’t know if we appreciated how good his work really was. Dr. Mark Sloan could have easily been nothing more than a rakish sleezebag, but Dane never allowed that to happen. In his hands, Sloan was just charming, funny, and ridiculously handsome (although he was all of those things); he was also vulnerable, thoughtful with his patients, and brilliant at layering his lines. Dane played Sloan for six seasons on Grey’s Anatomy. Long enough to go from obscure to famous, and long enough to be typecast, too.
After his debut on Grey’s, Dane was seen in several high profile films: X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), Marley & Me (2008), Valentine’s Day and Burlesque (2010), and he found a modicum of television success on The Last Ship, a post-apocalyptic series that aired on TNT for five seasons (2014-18). While there’s certainly no shame in being a consistently working actor in projects big or small, a second signature role eluded Dan until 2019, when he appeared on Sam Levinson’s dark, noirish, and highly sexualized HBO drama about out-of-control high school students, Euphoria.
Most of the adult characters on Euphoria are thinly sketched, out-of-touch, and deeply underwritten absentee parents, except for Dane’s Cal Jacobs. Cal is a former high school wrestling star who still lives in his hometown of East Highland, California. In his city, he is something of a pillar: a man with deep ties to the community, a perennial winner of the best chili in town at the yearly carnival, with a son (played by Jacob Elordi) who is also a star athlete.
Behind Cal’s upstanding veneer lurks true darkness. Cal is a closeted man, driven to interludes with young gay men, and a transsexual (played by the brilliant Hunter Schafer). Cal’s desires often play out in disturbing ways. He seeks to be dominant, approaching brutal with his trysts. Dane’s portrayal of a man who is disturbing and often disgusting is nothing short of bold and courageous. In the show’s second season, Cal’s hidden life becomes exposed when he confesses his transgressions in the foyer of his home to his wife and two sons. A foyer that he has just drunkenly urinated on. It’s a stunning scene, full of shame, self-loathing, and hubris. Few actors could have pulled it off.
Euphoria is not everyone’s cup of tea; it certainly isn’t mine. Too often, I’ve found the show shallow and prurient, just for the sake of. Outside of getting the most screen time of any of the parents depicted on the series, I’m not all that sure if the part of Cal Jacobs is that well-written. I just know that Dane makes the character sing, no matter how grim and grotesque the song.
In 2024, Dane was diagnosed with one of the most insidious afflictions in the long history of disease: ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, named after the former great New York Yankees first baseman. Gehrig, known as the “Iron Horse,” played in 2,130 consecutive Major League games over parts of fifteen seasons. In the year 1939, Gehrig began experiencing weakness, exhaustion, and issues with his coordination. After voluntarily taking himself out of a game, Gehrig was diagnosed with the disease that now bears his name. Outside of New York, it’s genuinely possible that Gehrig is better known for ALS than he is for his baseball exploits.
ALS is a horrifying condition with no cure. It is a fatal disease that slowly destroys motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Eventually, motor skills atrophy to the point of non-existence. Speaking, swallowing, and even breathing become difficult. The body shuts down; paralysis follows, and death is typically caused by respiratory failure.
Eric Dane shares much of his journey publicly. An act of courage in and of itself. His two most famous roles are in shows that I didn’t particularly admire, but I greatly admired the work of Eric Dane. Between the roles of Mark Sloan and Cal Jacobs, Dane showed enormous versatility. He made the hard look easy. Naturally compelling, bold, and far more skilled than one might have thought based on “McSteamy” alone, Eric Dane was far more than an outlandishly pretty face. He was a damn good actor.
Eric Dane died on February 19, 2026. He was 53 years old.
Dane will be seen in his final role in Euphoria’s long-delayed third season, debuting on April 12, 2026 (HBO).
