Julian McMahon’s death is a sad, dramatic end to a magnetic talent, whose star was on the rise again | Luke Buckmaster

The Australian actor broke into Hollywood playing suave villains in Nip/Tuck and Fantastic Four – but one of his final roles was some of his best work

• Julian McMahon – a life in pictures

• Julian McMahon dies aged 56

The Australian-American actor Julian McMahon, who has died from cancer aged 56, had a long and accomplished career. Like many Australian actors, it began with a soap opera – McMahon played Ben Lucini in 150 episodes of Home and Away – but he soon broke free to pursue a more ambitious and challenging oeuvre.

McMahon, the son of former prime minister Sir William “Billy” McMahon, made a name for himself overseas through US television in his 30s. On supernatural drama Charmed he played Cole Turner, a half-human, half-demon assassin turned love interest for one of the witches he was hired to kill. McMahon took to the show’s campy tone with aplomb, delivering lines like “I’m going straight to hell, cause it’s got to be a sin to look this good” with a twinkle in his eye.