Watch: ‘Days of Our Lives’ Star Robert Kelker-Kelly’s Medical Issues Before “Sudden” Death Revealed
More details about Robert Kelker-Kelly’s abrupt death are coming to light.
Nearly a month after the Days of Our Lives star died shortly after complaining of chest pain, his cause of death was determined to be arteriosclerotic heart disease the Office of the Regional Medical Examiner in St. Charles, Mo., told People Oct. 29.
The 62-year-old’s manner of death was ruled natural.
Arteriosclerotic heart disease, commonly referred to as coronary artery disease, occurs when the arteries carrying blood from the heart to the rest of the body become thick and stiff, which can cause heart attacks, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Before succumbing to what police referred to as a “sudden death” on Oct. 3, per a police report obtained by multipleoutlets, Kelker-Kelly had been picked up at the airport by his wife Allison Kelly. During their drive home, the retired soap actor had “complained of pain in his left arm and pain in his chest,” she told authorities.
At one point, Kelker-Kelly also told his wife that he felt the need to vomit, but he assured her he didn’t need to go to the hospital, so the pair returned to their home, according to the report.
Once home, Kelker-Kelly shared that he was still experiencing pain, which led Kelly to go retrieve an aspirin. However, upon her return to the bedroom, she found her husband “unresponsive and not breathing,” per the report.
CBS via Getty Images
Despite Kelly beginning CPR and paramedics’ attempts at “life-saving measures” upon their arrival, Kelker-Kelly was pronounced dead at 9:09 p.m. on Oct. 3, according to the report.
In addition to his 586 episodes as Bo Brady on Days of Our Lives between 1992 and 1995, Kelker-Kelly starred as multiple characters on the soap opera Another World for 434 episodes from 1987 to 1998 and as Stavros Cassadine on General Hospital for 42 episodes between 2001 and 2014.
Following his death, his Another World costar and onscreen love interest Sandra Dee Robinson (formerly Sandra Ferguson) paid tribute to her friend.
“My first years in TV on Another World were a whirlwind and Robert and I had no idea how popular our storyline would be… or what that meant,” she wrote on Instagram Oct. 5. “We learned together! It was not always an easy time working together on that show, but years later we would laugh on calls about life.”
And in the end, Robinson noted she was “grateful to have had the opportunity to know him.”
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