On General Hospital, he played a much-beloved character who has gone to the great beyond (but still can appear as a ghost when needed), but off-screen, veteran performer Max Gail is happy, healthy, and celebrating a major milestone.

Happy Birthday, Max Gail!

That’s because he was born on April 5, 1943, in Detroit, Michigan, which means that this talented actor is turning 80 years old today! Following his graduation from Williams College, Gail became a lecturer at the University Liggett School before making his acting debut in the original stage production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

His early screen credits include the feature films The Organization, Dirty Harry as an uncredited hoodlum, Night Moves, Cardiac Arrest, and D.C. Cab with Mr. T. — as well as the telefilms Curse of the Black Widow and The Aliens Are Coming.

Between 1975 and 1982, Gail portrayed Detective Stan “Wojo” Wojciehowicz on the ABC sitcom Barney Miller. It was a role that would net him two consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations in the Outstanding Supporting Actor category.

Further credits include guest appearances on series such as The Streets of San Francisco, Murder She Wrote, Walker, Texas Ranger, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Due South, NCIS, and Hawaii Five-O.

Gail played Mike Corbin on ABC’s General Hospital beginning on February 5, 2018, but believe it or not, GH wasn’t his first time on a daytime soap. That honor goes to Days of our Lives back in 2007, where he played the character of Merle.

He isn’t strictly an actor — Gail has directed too. He did that job on five episodes of Barney Miller as well as an episode of the show Whiz Kids back in 1984. He also wrote the TV movie, Indian Time. Not only that, but he heads Full Circle, a production company responsible for a plethora of socially conscious documentaries.