A Month of Waiting: Patrick Muldoon Laid to Rest Nearly 30 Days Later

It’s often the quiet details that hit hardest. Nearly a month after Melrose Place and Days of Our Lives star Patrick Muldoon’s sudden death on April 19, friends and loved ones finally gathered on Saturday, May 16, to say goodbye at St. Monica’s Catholic Church in Santa Monica. The delay speaks to something about grief—it doesn’t move on anyone’s timeline.

Muldoon, who was 57, died from a heart attack, though a death certificate later revealed underlying complications including a pulmonary embolism and coagulopathy disorder, a genetic condition that affects the blood’s ability to clot properly. But the how almost feels secondary to the who—a man who clearly mattered deeply to the people around him.

Former USC Trojans teammate Rodney Peete shared his grief publicly, writing on Instagram:“Tough Day saying goodbye to my friend Pat Muldoon!!! He was my Teammate, My Brother, My Friend miss you already brotha.”It’s a reminder that beyond the credits and the Hollywood connections, Muldoon was woven into the lives of real people across decades. He’d played tight end for USC in the 1980s before becoming an actor, so his reach spanned both worlds.

Perhaps the most poignant tribute came from his ex-girlfriend Denise Richards, who met Muldoon in their first acting class when she was 19 and he was 21, a recurring actor on Who’s the Boss. They worked together on the 1997 science fiction classic Starship Troopers and remained deeply connected for 36 years. Richards called him her“best friend”and“pillar of strength,”saying he“lit up every room you walked into.”In her Instagram post, she grappled with the reality that friendship can span a lifetime and still feel far too short:“We thought we’d live forever or at least into our 90’s.”

Muldoon is survived by his longtime girlfriend, Miriam Rothbart. Tributes poured in from co-stars and friends across the entertainment world—Lisa Rinna from Days of Our Lives, Tori Spelling, and countless others from the soap opera community. Even Sami Sheen, Denise Richards’daughter, attended the memorial and shared the program, writing simply,“Miss u so much Patrick.”

What emerges from the nearly month-long wait for his memorial is a portrait of someone whose life mattered in ways both visible and invisible. Patrick Muldoon wasn’t just an actor on beloved shows—he was a constant, a confidant, a brother to the people who knew him best.