'Six Million Dollar Man' actor Martin E. Brooks dies

This 2008 photo provided by Jon Landau shows, Edie Landau, left, with Martin E. Brooks at a Mother's day brunch in Brentwood, Calif. (AP)

Martin E. Brooks, whose acting career stretched from Broadway dramas to TV series including "The Six Million Dollar Man" and "Dallas," died Monday. He was 90.

Jon Landau, a film producer and friend of Brooks, said he died of natural causes after a brief hospitalization in Los Angeles. Brooks and Landau's mother, Edie Landau, were childhood friends who became close companions two decades ago, after she was widowed.

Brooks' best-known role was as scientist Dr. Rudy Wells on the 1970s series "The Six Million Dollar Man" and its spinoff, "The Bionic Woman." The role of Wells had previously been played in the original series by Alan Oppenheimer.

Brooks' other credits included "The Philco Television Playhouse" in the 1950s, "Combat!" in the 1960s and "Knots Landing" in the 1990s. He also played Dr. Arthur Bradshaw on the ABC daytime serial "General Hospital."

Landau said Brooks was proud of his stage work that included "An Enemy of the People" and "I Am a Camera," as well as the actors he worked with, Julie Harris and Barbara Bel Geddes among them.

"Marty was the eternal optimist. He only looked at the good things in life," said Landau, the producer of "Titanic" and "Avatar."

A private service was planned.