Darius Perkins, the first actor to play the legendary Neighbours character Scott Robinson, has died at the age of 54.
According to Australia's The Herald Sun, the actor passed away after a battle with cancer on Wednesday (January 2).
The newspaper quotes Perkins' former co-star David Clencie as saying: "I am so sad, really devastated to lose my mate.
"We had this incredible bond. We were mates to the very end."
Perkins played the character of Scott Robinson when Neighbours debuted in 1985 before leaving the soap about eight months later.
The role was then taken over by Jason Donovan, who was famously involved in an on-screen romance with Charlene Mitchell, played by Kylie Minogue.
Perkins returned to the popular soap briefly in 2013, playing another character called Marty Kranic.
The actor also appeared in Home and Away.
Tributes to the late actor have been flooding in on Twitter.
Farewell Darius Perkins, 54.
— Rhett Bartlett (@dialmformovies) January 5, 2019
He was the original Scott Robinson in the first season of NEIGHBOURS.
(Jason Donovan took over the role and into soapie immortality.)
Won the Best Juvenile Performance Logie in 1984 for the miniseries ALL THE RIVERS RUN. pic.twitter.com/3mghUwi3Di
Deepest sympathies are extended to the family of Darius Perkins, who passed away after a long battle with cancer.
— Erinsborough News 🏘 (@ErinsboroughNew) January 5, 2019
Darius played the original Scott Robinson when the show premiered in 1985, and will be familiar to newer fans as Marty Kranic in 2013. #Neighbours pic.twitter.com/fj4l5jMX0B
Sad to hear of the passing of Darius Perkins, part of the original #Neighbours cast and the first Scott Robinson. When looking back at the early eps, his Scott really fit in well with the Robinson family. And he also had a great role in early #HomeandAway as evil Gary Samuels.
— Mark (@mkenn80) January 5, 2019
Such sad news that #dariusperkins the original #ScottRobinson has died after battling cancer #RIP #Neighbours thoughts with all that knew him
— ❤️🎤🎸❤️TeamDonovan ❤️🎸🎤❤️ (@teamdonovan_) January 5, 2019
Awwww no 😔Sad news and I remember him so well. RIP #DariusPerkins#
— Little Miss Stig (@StigMiss) January 5, 2019
Genuinely sad to hear about the death of Darius Perkins. I actually preferred his version of Scott Robinson in Neighbours to Jason Donovan's. Condolences to all who knew him.
— Joe Julians (@JoeJulians) January 5, 2019
Such a shock 2 read of the sad death at such a young age of the Actor #DariusPerkins 😮. I saw him many yrs l8r as the original Scott Robinson in #Neighbours & as Trevor Collins in #Prisoner.
— Jan Robertson (@SoapQueen86) January 5, 2019
My thoughts r with his family, friends & co-stars @neighbours @dendale 😮😥
