Dan Tanna from ‘Vegas’ Had Untimely Death at 55 – He ‘Lives On’ through His Kids & ‘Striking’ Grandkids
Robert Urich, a.k.a. Dan Tanna from “Vega$,” had a loving wife and children before his untimely death at 55.
The actor’s son opened up about what kind of man his father was.
Robert’s grandchildren are “striking” in new photos, yet unfortunately, the actor couldn’t meet them.
Robert Urich was famous for playing the role of Dan Tanna in “Vega$” and Spenser in “Spenser: For Hire.” In real life, the actor had a loving wife and children before he passed away suddenly at age 55.
In May 2023, his grandchildren appeared in new photos, but sadly, their grandfather wasn’t around long enough to meet them. One of the books about the actor, “The Robert Urich Story – An Extraordinary Life,” told the beautiful story of how Robert met his second wife, Heather Menzies.
He came across Menzies after his first marriage to actress Barbara Rucker concluded in 1974, whom he’d been with for six years. Robert was acquainted with the second actress when the two actors appeared together in Libby’s Corned Beef Hash commercial.
At age 23, Menzies wasn’t looking to have a relationship with a fellow actor when she met Robert. The actress had spent time saving up to visit Europe, where she’d backpack and sleep in hostels.
She would fly to Scotland to see family members, hitchhike through Europe, and stay as long as she could afford it. The star had already purchased her ticket for the trip, a month away, and couldn’t wait to leave Hollywood behind.
However, the prospect of her leaving left him feeling “daunted.” One day he confronted Menzies and asked if she really was going, and she said “Yes” and invited him to join her.
Finding no reason not to accompany her, Robert paid their utility bill and went against his nature to plan anything by buying his ticket and going. His girlfriend found his reaction out of character, but in Europe was where they “fell in love.”
The young couple had only known each other for a few weeks when they went off to Europe and their friends thought they were crazy! Due to Robert having an American Express card, backpacking and sleeping in hostels were out!
For three weeks, the pair slept in B&Bs and rented a car to get around until the card ran out of money. The duo traveled from the Isle of Sky to Paris and stayed at a hotel where the Eiffel Tower was in direct view, and Robert read poems for Menzies while she bathed in an antique bathtub.
In hindsight, the actress believed that’s where their two souls became one, and they knew then that they’d live their lives as one. Upon their return home, one day, Menzies visited Robert at his place, and out of the blue, he asked her if they should go to her place to feed her cat or stay and feed his dog.
Her response matched his trail of thought when she said it would be best if they went to fetch her cat instead, and that’s how they moved in together! A year after their initial meeting, on November 21, 1975, they married until he died.
Dr. Ryan Urich, the couple’s son, confessed in 2019 that his parents’ relationship worked because they didn’t try to impress or manipulate each other like other Hollywood people. He said they’d understood each other, and a perfect day for them was anything as long as they weren’t apart.
“The Sound of Music” actress and her husband might not have had the most extended lives together, but it was beautiful when he became a father of three. We also look into how Robert died.
What Kind of Father Was Robert, and How Did He Pass On?
Before Robert could taste fatherhood, his wife suffered several miscarriages. The couple eventually adopted three children, their only son Ryan and daughters, Emily and Allison.
In his 2019 interview, the couple’s son described Robert as “very communicative” and “really mellow.” Ryan recalled the times he’d gotten in trouble at school, and instead of shouting or scolding him, the actor lay on the floor with his knees bent and asked him what was really happening.
The star gently tried to get to know his son. Robert was as “equally sensitive” to Emily and Allison as he was to Ryan, with the doctor sharing, “He was always proud of us kids — every little baby step we took.”
Menzies son said it was two days before one of his sister’s fourth birthdays when their father passed away, but he still played with her despite fighting a six-year battle against cancer. Ryan shared that his father was diagnosed thrice with the disease.
[Heather] Menzies was the only one to meet her grandchildren…
The first time was “tough” and left the celebrity “shaken,” but he did surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy (chemo). Robert’s hair fell out, and then it grew back, and he was glad it was an amount he could work with, “He just wanted to keep going!” his son revealed about his career.
After that, he was cast for National Geographic’s “On Assignment,” where he traveled to different places. Close to finishing high school, Ryan’s father’s cancer returned, and he drove him to the hospital for chemo and felt terrible for how sensitive his father became to even the slightest bump on the road.
In 2002, the actor couldn’t fight the disease off and died at a Thousand Oaks hospital surrounded by his family. Ryan chose to study medicine because he couldn’t help his father medically, but hoped to assist someone else, and Emily became an ER nurse, and they run The Urich Foundation, a cancer charity, with the doctor stating:
“He lives on through his children.”
In 2017, Menzies was also taken from her children by terminal brain cancer at 68, almost four weeks after her diagnosis, but she wasn’t in pain. Besides their children, Robert and his wife left behind grandchildren.
How Do Robert’s Grandchildren Look Now?
Ryan was born in 1979 before Emily followed a year later in 1980, and Allison wrapped things up with her arrival in 1998. Menzies was the only one to meet her grandchildren, Michelle and Lana, born in 2004 and 2005.
On April 10, 2023, Ryan uploaded Instagram images to celebrate the Easter Holidays. Judging by photos, it seemed he was a parent of three children, whom Robert never met because of his untimely death, with his wife, and one follower described them as a “beautiful family.”
Menzies son often showed off his family on social media. With the Easter post, which included several pictures of his family in different poses, an Instagram user complimented his “Great photos!” and praised his children saying they were “striking!”