It’s been just over a week since Eric Dane died, succumbing to ALS less than a year after he revealed his diagnosis, and many are still reeling over the loss. Former colleagues haven’t stopped paying tribute and sending condolences to Dane’s wife, Rebecca Gayheart, and their two daughters. There are plenty of fun memories being shared as well, including a resurfaced interview where the Grey’s Anatomy actor had a great reaction to his daughter’s comments about Mark Sloan’s abs.
ET shared an interview with Eric Dane from 2022 that questioned what he would say if his daughters — Billie and Georgia, who are currently 15 and 14, respectively — wanted to watch him as Cal Jacobs on Euphoria or McSteamy on Grey’s Anatomy. While he was quick say Euphoria was off-limits until they turned 18, it seems the Mark Sloan of it all was already on their radar, as he said:
They’re just starting to watch Grey’s Anatomy. My 10-year-old asked me a couple weeks ago, she said, ‘Dad, where’d your abs go?’ My reaction was, ‘They’re in there somewhere, honey.’
Leave it to your kids to take you down a peg! Eric Dane’s reaction was really funny, too, because I guess he was rocking more of the standard “dad bod” at the time (and no doubt still looking excellent). You can see this response in the interview clips below:
Eric Dane made his Grey’s Anatomy debut on Season 2, where Ellen Pompeo’s Meredith Grey was quick to dub his character “McSteamy” — the bad-boy counterpart to Derek Shepherd’s (Patrick Dempsey) “McDreamy” — and the nickname survived long after Mark Sloan was killed off at the beginning of Season 9.
While many fans still consider McSteamy one of Grey’s Anatomy’s best characters ever, Eric Dane always found the nickname “strange” because, in real life, he said he was nothing like Mark Sloan. He had those abs, though, and he even admitted “it didn’t suck” to have that nickname.
Even though his character's death occurred way back in 2012, Eric Dane remained a venerated member of the medical drama’s family, and several Grey’s Anatomy stars paid homage to the actor when he passed. In addition to that, the show went above and beyond with a sob-worthy tribute at the end of the most recent episode — “(If You Want It) Do It Yourself,” which was the first one since Dane’s passing — complete with Snow Patrol’s “Chasing Cars” playing behind clips of Mark Sloan’s biggest moments.
“Chasing Cars” has historically been used on the show to signify the series’ most heartbreaking moments, including the deaths of Denny Duquette and Derek Shepherd. The real-life loss of Eric Dane definitely stands out as one of the saddest things to happen surrounding the longtime medical series, so I really love that there are plenty of funny moments and happy memories to look back on as well.
If you want to relive any of the McSteamy days on Grey’s Anatomy, all seasons are available to stream with a Hulu subscription (including the already-aired Season 22 episodes), while Seasons 1 to 21 can also be streamed with a Netflix subscription.
