Michael Zaslow, 54, who was best known for his TV soap opera roles but also appeared on Broadway and in resident theatres, died Dec. 6 in his New York home, according to ABC. He had fought Lou Gehrig's disease for several years.

Mr. Zaslow starred as Roger Thorpe for many years on CBS-TV's "Guiding Light," and recently on ABC's "One Life to Live" as a patient dealing with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease).

He appeared on Broadway in Onward Victoria, the 1975 ANTA revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (standing by for and then replacing Keir Dullea as Brick), Fiddler on the Roof and Boccaccio.

Off-Broadway and regionally, Mr. Zaslow performed the title role of Macbeth at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre Company, in Taking Steps at the York, Henry in Henry IV, Part I for the New York Shakespeare Festival in Central Park, in The Petrified Forest at the Berkshire Theatre Festival, Marsha Norma's Sarah and Abraham at Actors Theatre of Louisville, and, his last stage performance, as Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady for Pittsburgh Light Opera.

A public memorial will be held Jan. 25, 1999 at the Royale Theatre in Manhattan. -- By Kenneth Jones