David Hasselhoff remembers his late Baywatch costar, Michael Newman.

“Newman was a warrior… he literally saved my life at least 4 times,” the Mitch Buchanan actor wrote alongside a photo of him and Newman on television. Baywatch set via Instagram late Tuesday, October 22. “He has made the transition from scarab to jet ski perfectly several times. What a wonderful man. He was never afraid of the water. I remember directing him in a few episodes and he was really good. He became a great actor. We will all miss him.”

“RIP to the one and only @newmiefish,” the comment read Jeremy Jacksonwho played Hobie Buchanan, Mitch’s son, in the hit lifeguard drama.

Newman died Sunday, Oct. 20, at the age of 68, nearly two decades after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2006.

People reported that Newman died “of heart complications,” adding that he was “surrounded by his family and friends.”

“I saw Mike the last time he was conscious and he looked at me and said in typical Mike fashion, ‘You’re just in time,’” Newman’s friend Matt Felker the outlet told us.

Related: Original ‘Baywatch’ Cast: Where Are They Now?

The red bathing suits, tan bodies and slow-motion running make Baywatch impossible to forget – even decades after it originally aired. Baywatch followed lifeguards on a beach in California (and later Hawaii) as they saved innocent people from drowning, sharks, and the occasional serial killer. The drama first premiered on NBC in 1989 and ran for (…)

Newman appeared Baywatch for 10 seasons from 1989 to 2000. His character, Newmie, was loosely based on himself, as he was the only real lifeguard in the cast. Initially, he was not a leading actor in the action drama, but after he started performing stunts and offering guidance to the writers on rescue scenes, he became invaluable.

“I was too useful for them to get rid of me,” he said People in 2023. “I actually started out as a stuntman, and after seven years without the opening credits, I was finally anointed and allowed to be at the front of the show.”

Newman was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2006 after his family and friends noticed he was slowing down, despite always being very athletic. “Everything changes,” he said People about dealing with the condition in January. “All those things you thought you were going to do with your children and grandchildren, pictures we were going to take, all the plans I had… stopped.”

Related: Celebrity deaths in 2024: Stars who died this year

Hollywood mourned many celebrities in 2024. Speed ​​Racer star Christian Oliver (born Christian Klepser) died at the age of 51 in a fatal plane crash on January 5. Oliver was heading home from a Caribbean vacation with his two daughters — Madita and Annik, whom he shares with wife Jessica Klepser — on Jan. 4. (…)

“It’s a slow burn,” Newman added of the progression of his disease. “Parkinson’s disease does not wait for you. It keeps coming in.”

Newman is survived by his wife, Sarathe couple’s two children, son Chris and daughter Emilyand their granddaughter, Charlie.