David M. Haskell, the handsome actor who starred in the original 1970s New York staging of Stephen Schwartz's Godspell died of brain cancer in southern California Aug. 30, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Mr. Haskell was 52 and died at the Motion Picture & Television Fund Hospital in Woodland Hills, CA. Among his stage, film and TV credits was the film version of the 1971 Off-Broadway and (later) Broadway smash, Godspell. The free-wheeling, commedia-streaked musical, currently in revival Off-Broadway in Manhattan, follows the story of the last days of Christ, drawn from the Gospel According to St. Matthew. Mr. Haskell played John the Baptist opposite Stephen Nathan on stage and Victor Garber on screen.

Mr. Haskell's stage work included a staging of Measure for Measure with Meryl Streep, for Lincoln Center. He starred in the South Coast Repertory Theatre production of Benefactors in 1987.

Mr. Haskell was Nick Hartley in the TV soap opera, "Santa Barbara," and had many guest spots on episodic TV over the years. He appeared in such films as "Seems Like Old Times," "Deal of the Century," "Body Double" and "The Boost."

-- By Kenneth Jones