‘Quantum Leap’ star Dean Stockwell dead at 85

Actor Dean Stockwell, whose sterling, 70-year career proved the power of perseverance, is dead at age 85.

Stockwell died of natural causes Sunday in New Zealand surrounded by family members, his manager, Lesa Kirk, told the Daily News in a statement.

“Dean was a gentle, gracious and one of a kind, a class act,” Kirk said.

Acting brought Stockwell early success, a barren period that caused him to leave the business for several years, and then huge success in the 1980s, including an Oscar nomination for his part in the comedy “Married to the Mob” and his Emmy-nominated role alongside Scott Bakula on “Quantum Leap.”

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A former child actor whose career began in the 1940s, Stockwell found young roles in such films as “Anchors Aweigh” with Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly, Rudyard Kipling’s “Kim” with Errol Flynn and “The Boy With Green Hair.”

After a turn on Broadway and several movies, including “Compulsion,” which won him his first best actor award at Cannes, Stockwell dropped in and out of Hollywood in the mid-1960s.

“I did some drugs and went to some love-ins,” he told Vogue in 1988. “The experience of those days provided me with a huge, panoramic view of my existence that I didn’t have before. I have no regrets.”

Among his beatnik buddies at that time were fellow actors Russ Tamblyn and Dennis Hopper.

Tamblyn, known for “West Side Story” and his later success in “Twin Peaks,” praised his pal Tuesday on Twitter.

“Dean. My oldest friend. A godfather-figure to my daughter, Amber. Brilliant artist. Loving dad,” Tamblyn tweeted. “We met on the set of The Boy With Green Hair, stayed close til his last breath. Rest easy now, brother. Give Dennis a hug from me when you see him on the other side.”

After three years away from acting, Stockwell was a frequent presence on TV in the 1970s, guest-starring on numerous shows such as “Mannix” and “Columbo.” But it was in the ensuing decade that he took off.

Roles in “Paris, Texas” and “Dune” in 1984 made him a go-to-guy among character actors. Two years later, he reteamed with “Dune” director David Lynch for “Blue Velvet.” His 1988 role in the Michelle Pfeiffer-Matthew Modine comedy “Married to the Mob” brought him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

“Quantum Leap” proved to be just that for Stockwell, who became a household name for playing the womanizing Admiral Al Calavicci, best friend to Bakula’s Dr. Sam Beckett.

The role, from 1989-93, earned Stockwell four Emmy nominations for supporting actor in a drama while the show itself took home several Emmys for cinematography, editing, hair and makeup.

Bakula said he met his co-star for the first time in 1988 when Stockwell read for the part.

“How lucky were we to get him? A few months later he would be nominated for an Academy Award for his role in Married to the Mob, but he was stuck with us,” Bakula wrote on Instagram. “Serendipity? All I know is, he never tried to get out or complain, he loved the role and the show and the rest was history.”

After “Quantum Leap” ended, Stockwell remained a busy actor throughout the later decades of his life. In 2006, he joined the cast of “Battlestar Galactica,” becoming a staple in the sci-fi world.

Stockwell is survived by his wife, Joy, and their two children, Austin and Sophia. He also leaves behind a long list of good performances — and much goodwill.

“In spite of having a career that came and went several times during his seventy plus years in the business, he was always grateful and delighted to have the chance to keep working,” Bakula wrote. “The only time he ever complained was when we called him on the golf course and told him we were ready for him to come to work! He used to announce his presence on the sound stage (if we hadn’t already caught a whiff of cigar smoke trailing in behind him), with a bellowed, ‘The fun starts now!’ Truer words were never spoken.”