Actor Jared Martin dies at 75

Known for his role of Steven “Dusty” Farlow on the series Dallas, died at the age of 75, his son, Christian Martin, confirmed on Twitter late Thursday night.

Christian told The Hollywood Reporterhis father passed away from pancreatic cancer at his home in Philadelphia on Wednesday.

A Manhattan-born actor, Martin attended Columbia University where he roomed with “another prep school grad,” future filmmaker Brian De Palma, who cast him in his 1968 film Murder à la Mod. “I played a mad photographer-murderer who liked to lick the blood off his victims’ bodies,” Martin told PEOPLE in a 1981 interview. “Brian used Hershey syrup for blood and paid me $35.”

Martin’s career was also marked by roles on TV shows War of the Worlds, Murder, She Wrote, Magnum, P.I., One Life to Live, and The Love Boat, as well as a two-part stint on the original Wonder Woman. He also featured in films like Westworld and The Lonely Lady.

However, it was Dallas where he truly made his mark. Martin came on the show, which ran from 1979 to 1991, as cowboy Dusty. The character was supposedly killed in a plane crash but remained in the spotlight as the possible shooter of J.R., so the producers brought him back in a wheelchair.

“Most of my scenes have been in the bedroom with Linda Gray,” Martin joked to PEOPLE. “What the hell — it’s a living.”

Upon his retirement from acting, Martin co-founded and served as the creative director for the non-profit Big Picture Alliance, which brought the world of filmmaking to inner-city kids. He also spent his time as a painter and photographer.

Martin is survived by Christian, wife Yu Wei, and grandchildren.

EW