Sophia Michaels
Jennifer Aniston remembered her father, actor John Aniston, “as one of the most beautiful humans I ever knew,” after he died last week.
The elder Aniston — best known for his decades-long work on the soap opera Days of Our Lives — died last Friday, Nov. 11, at the age of 89. A cause of death wasn’t given.
Jennifer announced her father’s death on Instagram Monday, writing, “You were one of the most beautiful humans I ever knew. I am so grateful that you went soaring into the heavens in peace – and without pain.”
Jennifer also noted that her father died on 11/11, quipping, “You always had perfect timing.” Aniston has two 11s tattooed on her wrist, a nod to her own birthday (Feb. 11) and reportedly because she believes the numbers are good luck (her friend, Andrea Bendewald, has a matching tattoo).
Following her father’s death, Jennifer wrote, “That number will forever hold an even greater meaning for me now. I’ll love you till the end of time.”
John was born in Greece but emigrated to the United States with his family when he was two years old. John, according to The Hollywood Reporter, began acting in high school and continued to perform in college. Following a stint in the U.S. Navy, he settled in New York and started acting, picking up theater and television roles.
In 1970, he was cast on Days of Our Lives for the first time, playing a prison doctor named Eric Richards. That role, however, didn’t last long, and John spent the rest of the decade mostly working on other soaps, like Love of Life and Search for Tomorrow. He also appeared on a couple of episodes of Kojak, the cop show starring Telly Savalas, who was Jennifer’s godfather.
In 1985, John was brought back to Days of Our Lives, this time as the Greek crime boss Victor Kiriakis. John continued to portray the character off-and-on for the next 37 years and was still appearing on new episodes of the show this year. In 2017, he earned a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, while at the 2022 Daytime Emmys, he was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Though Days of Our Lives was his most consistent job, John picked up other small parts over the next several decades. In the early 2000s, he popped up in episodes of Star Trek: Voyager, The West Wing, and GilmoreGirls, while later, he appeared in an episode of Mad Men.
In an interview with the Television Academy several years ago, John was asked how he would like to be remembered. After thinking about it for a moment, he replied simply, “He was a good actor.”
