‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ Star Died of Heart Attack Related to His Opioid Dependency

According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, nearly 130 Americans die every day from opioid-related overdoses. This includes those who overdose on Fetenyal and prescription painkillers, but that number does not include those whose death is related to their opioid addiction but wasn’t directly caused by an overdose.

Related: ‘Beverly Hills, 90210′ Star Tragically Dies at 58 

Former Beverly Hills, 90210, and Port Charles star David Gail would be one of those people who fall into the latter category. According to a statement released by Gail’s mother, Mary Painter, he died from a heart attack related to the damage that was done to his body after years of opioid abuse. The toxicology report revealed that David Gail had amphetamines, cocaine, ethanol, and fentanyl in his system at the time of his death.

David Gail’s story is all too familiar. After several painful surgeries, Gail turned to opioids to deal with the pain. His family said that the prescription drugs he took after the surgeries quickly turned into a pharmaceutical addiction.

After his dependency on pharmaceuticals and his opioid dependence, Gail tried turning to Eastern pain management and natural medicines. However, he could not shake his opioid addiction.

Related: ‘Friends’ Star Matthew Perry Had Ketomine In His System When He Died

Mary Painter said in her statement:

It breaks my heart to learn that my son died this way. David became reliant on medicine many years ago, after multiple surgeries on his hands and wrists. He lived in enough pain to prevent him from working for almost a decade, with relief only achieved through full disability, physical therapy and pain medicine. I hope his death shines a light on the countless innocent victims of pharmaceutical addiction and the fentanyl epidemic that has taken so many of our sons and daughters.

David Gail was born in Tampa Bay and began his acting career in 1990 with a guest appearance on Growing Pains. He followed that up with appearances on Doogie Hower, M.D., Murder, She Wrote, and Matlock. After those guest appearances, Gail got his big break on an eight-episode run on Beverly Hill, 90210, where his character, Stuart Carson, was engaged to Shannen Doherty’s Brenda Walsh.

Rest in peace to David Gail. He was so good as Brenda’s fiancé Stuart. Our hearts go out to his family & friends pic.twitter.com/Pe77VrPJTT

— Rewatching 90210 in 2024 (@rewatching90210) January 22, 2024

Related: Star of ABC’s ‘One Life To Live’ Tragically Dies of Cancer at 56 

Gail turned his 90210 run into the role of DeaW.B.’sins on the W.B.’s Savannah. After two seasons on Savannah, Gail took the role of DrABC’s Scanlon on ABC’s Port CharlABC’s spinoff of ABC’s General Hospital. He starred in 216 episodes of the show.

After his run on television, Gail made the jump to the big screen, starring in Some Girl (1998), Bending All the Rules (2001), and Perfect Opposites (2004). He also made guest appearances on E.R. and JAG. 

In recent years, Gail made guest appearances on Beverly Hills, 90210 podcasts, and he became a voice actor.

Gail’s family asks that you keep the countless innocent victims of the fentanyl epidemic in your prayers.