Hours after his death, a recorded message from Eric Dane to his two daughters has been released.

The message was part of an interview he filmed with Netflix, titled Famous Last Words, which premiered shortly after the news of his passing.

Dane, known for his roles in Grey’s Anatomy and Euphoria, had publicly shared his amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) diagnosis 10 months earlier.

In the interview, the 53-year-old actor addressed his daughters, Billie and Georgia, speaking directly to them about his life and what he had learnt since his diagnosis.

“Billie and Georgia, I tried for you. I tried. I stumbled sometimes, but I tried. Overall, we had a blast, didn’t we?” he said.

He recalled family holidays spent by the ocean, mentioning Malibu, Santa Monica, Hawaii, and Mexico. “I see you now playing in the ocean for hours, my water babies. Those days, pun intended, were heaven,” he added.

Dane structured his message around four lessons he said the disease had taught him.

First, he urged them to live in the present. He admitted that for years he struggled with regret and self-doubt, often replaying decisions and criticising himself. According to him, ALS forced him to stop dwelling on the past. “Live now, right now, in the present,” he said, explaining that learning to do so had been difficult but necessary.

Second, he encouraged them to fall in love, not only with a person, but with something meaningful. Passion, he said, gives direction to life. “Find your joy. Find the thing that makes you want to get up in the morning,” he advised.

His third lesson focused on friendship. He told his daughters to choose their friends wisely and to build relationships rooted in trust and acceptance. “Find your people and allow them to find you, and then give yourselves to them,” he said. In his words, true friends give back without judgement or conditions.

Finally, Dane spoke about resilience. Referring to his illness, he urged them to fight life’s challenges with dignity. “Fight with every ounce of your being,” he said. “Never give up. Fight until your last breath.” He acknowledged that ALS was gradually taking his physical strength, but insisted it would never take his spirit.

Dane rose to prominence in the mid-2000s when he joined Grey’s Anatomy as Dr Mark Sloan, a role that turned him into a household name and earned him the nickname “McSteamy”.

Years later, he introduced himself to a younger audience through Euphoria, where he played Cal Jacobs, a complex and deeply flawed patriarch.

With a career that spanned more than two decades, he appeared in several television dramas and films, building a steady presence in Hollywood. He was married to actress Rebecca Gayheart, and the couple shared two daughters, Billie and Georgia, who remained central to his final message.