Longtime ABC Soap Actor Dies in Fire Alongside Wife: What We Know About Paul and Sheila Avery

The daughter of Paul and Sheila Avery has confirmed that the couple died in a Tuesday home fire.

Paul is best known as an actor who had a 12-year run on the iconic ABC soap opera All My Children. Per Soap Digest, he played the bartender Hughie at the dive bar Foxy’s. He also popped up in Three’s Company, Soap, Tales from the Darkside and 1978’s Superman.

NBC News, citing New Jersey State Police, reported that the Averys’ home was on fire by 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday, when first responders arrived. The news outlet reports that “The couple was found unresponsive and later succumbed to their injuries.”

The couple’s daughter, Kyle, confirmed their deaths in a Tuesday Facebook post.

“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. We’re grateful to the Blairstown Fire Department for their efforts. Service plans to follow.”

The fire is under investigation as of press time; authorities have not disclosed an apparent cause as of press time.