Actor who set pulses racing as Mark Sloan – nicknamed McSteamy – in the TV medical drama Grey’s Anatomy

The American actor Eric Dane, who has died of motor neurone disease aged 53, found fame and sex-symbol status as the brilliant plastic surgeon Mark Sloan in the medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, which went to the top of the TV ratings in the US and attracted big audiences worldwide.

The character first appeared in 2006, in the second series of the show, as a one-off visitor to the fictional Seattle Grace hospital, to which his former best friend, the neurosurgeon Derek Shepherd (played by Patrick Dempsey), had moved following Mark’s affair with his wife. Mark’s flirting with Derek’s new girlfriend, Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), leads his old pal to punch him in the face.