A beloved actor best known for his role on All My Children has died alongside his wife after a devastating house fire in New Jersey.
Paul Avery, who played Hughie the bartender on the hit soap opera in the 1980s, and his wife, Sheila, were killed after flames tore through their home in Blairstown early Tuesday morning.
Firefighters rushed to the couple’s home just before 1 a.m. and found them in critical condition, according to local reports. Crews pulled Paul and Sheila from the house and performed CPR, but both died shortly after.
Avery was known to daytime TV fans for playing Hughie, the bartender at Foxy’s, on All My Children for more than a decade.
He also appeared in the original 1978 Superman movie in an uncredited role as a TV cameraman. Outside of acting, Avery made a major mark on his community as the founder of the Ridge View Echo, a local newspaper.
The couple’s daughter, Kyle Avery, shared a heartbreaking tribute to her parents on Facebook.
“I’m devastated to share that our parents, Paul and Sheila Garry Avery, passed away early this morning,” she wrote. “We loved them so much, and they loved us so much, and nobody ever had to wonder if that was so.”
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Friends and community members remembered Avery as a one-of-a-kind figure whose life stretched far beyond the screen.
Joe Phalon, who works at the newspaper Avery founded, told WFMZ that Avery was “the most interesting man in the world.”
“He was when you consider everything he’s done in his life,” Phalon said. “Acting, skydiving, Vietnam veteran, started a newspaper.”
Phalon said Avery’s death will be deeply felt across the area.
“His death is going to leave a real void in this community,” he said. “Not just Blairstown, but the towns around as well.”
He added, “I think we’ll really miss him, and I think it’s going to become more apparent over time.”