Paul Avery From 'All My Children' Dies Alongside His Wife In A New Jersey House Fire

Paul Avery, the actor who spent 12 years playing Hughie the bartender at Foxy's on the ABC daytime soap opera All My Children, died early Tuesday morning alongside his wife Sheila in a house fire at their home in Blairstown, New Jersey.

He was in his early 80s. New Jersey State Police received a call just before 1 AM about a fire at their home.

By the time emergency crews arrived the house was completely engulfed in flames. Firefighters entered and rescued the couple in critical condition.

Both were treated with CPR but succumbed to their injuries shortly after. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Their daughter Kyle Avery confirmed the deaths on Facebook Tuesday afternoon. "I'm devastated to share that our parents, Paul and Sheila Garry Avery, passed away early this morning. We loved them so much, and they loved us so much, and nobody ever had to wonder if that was so. We're grateful to the Blairstown Fire Department for their efforts."

The Man Behind Hughie

Avery's most enduring role came in the early 1980s when he was cast as Hughie, the bartender at Foxy's, a dive bar in Center City, the grittier side of All My Children's fictional Pine Valley.

Foxy's was the place where heroine Jenny Gardner first met Jesse Hubbard in 1981, one of the show's most beloved storylines, and Hughie was part of the furniture across all of it.

He stayed in the recurring role for 12 years, becoming one of those faces soap audiences saw so often they felt like they genuinely knew him.

His career stretched well beyond daytime. He appeared as a TV cameraman in the original 1978 Superman.

He guest-starred on Three's Company and Soap.

In 20 years as a professional actor he appeared in more than 300 commercials, including voicing the yellow M&M, before building a second act in journalism as executive editor of the Ridge View Echo, a local New Jersey news organization he helped found.

He was also a Vietnam veteran who served as a helicopter crew chief, a licensed pilot, an avid skydiver and a motorcyclist.

He described the appeal of small-town life in a 2023 profile simply:

"The great thing about living in a small town is that you can actively participate in it."

He and Sheila died in the home where they had built that life. Service plans are forthcoming.