American actor Ray MacDonnell was born on March 5, 1928 in Lawrence, Massachusetts. After attending Amherst College, he studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London on the back of a Fulbright scholarship. He began acting for the screen in 1961, when he joined the cast of the soap The Edge of Night. He also had a role in the pilot for a supposed television adaptation of Dick Tracy, although this wasn’t picked up.
MacDonnell, however, is most known for his role in the daytime soap All My Children. He was one of the drama’s original cast members, joining in 1970 as Joe Martin, a high-ranking doctor at the Pine Valley Hospital. He is only one of three original characters who still remain on the show; the others are Erica Kane (Susan Lucci) and his wife Ruth Martin (currently played by Lee Meriwether). Along with Lucci, he is only one of two actors still playing roles in the show.
MacDonnell’s many achievements in daytime television led to him being awarded, in 2004, a Lifetime Achievement Award from that year’s Daytime Emmys.