Soap opera actor Clint Ritchie dead at 70

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Actor Clint Ritchie, who played newspaper editor Clint Buchanan on "One Life to Live" for two decades, has died in Roseville, Calif., ABC said. He was 70.

The Los Angeles Times reported the North Dakota native died last Saturday, following a brief illness. The retired soap star had been living on a horse ranch in Grass Valley, the newspaper said.

Ritchie played small roles in the 1960s and '70s on TV shows such as "The Wild, Wild West," "Batman" and "Thunder," and had bit parts in movies before becoming a fixture on "One Life to Live," starting in 1979. He retired from the show in December 1998, but made appearances on the daytime drama in 1999, 2003 and 2004, the Times said.