Friday, April 11, 2008

Stanley Kamel, a veteran character actor who appeared most recently in the USA television network series "Monk" as detective Adrian Monk's psychiatrist, has died. He was 65.

Mr. Kamel was found dead of a heart attack Tuesday at his Los Angeles home by his longtime agents and friends Donna Massetti and Marilyn Szatmary, publicist Cynthia Snyder said Wednesday in a statement.

Often cast as unsavory characters in TV dramas, Mr. Kamel got attention as the suicidal Bruce Teller in the Fox prime-time soap "Melrose Place" in 1994, Dylan McKay's scheming father-in-law Tony Marchette in Fox's "Beverly Hills, 90210" in 1995, and psychiatrist Dr. Graham Lester in the ABC crime series "Murder One" in 1995-96.

He also had a memorable role as Mark Gilliam, an activist lawyer with AIDS, in the first season of "L.A. Law" in 1986.

Mr. Kamel, born Jan. 1, 1943, in New Brunswick, N.J., attended Boston University and studied with noted acting coach Sanford Meisner.

Mr. Kamel acted in off-Broadway productions and got his first TV role in the early 1970s playing Eric Peters in the NBC daytime drama "Days of Our Lives." He moved on to prime-time television with numerous roles in episodic series, including "Cagney & Lacey," "Hunter" and "Hill Street Blues."

Survivors include two brothers.