Kirk Baily, who played Kevin “Ug” Lee in Salute Your Shorts, died following a battle with lung cancer. He was 59.
The actor passed away on Monday, February 28, six months after he was diagnosed with the disease, according to TMZ.
Baily’s most notable role was in the Nickelodeon sitcom, which focused on young campers at the fictional Camp Anawanna. The TV series, which ran from 1991 to 1992, was based on creator Steve Slavkin‘s 1986 book Salute Your Shorts: Life at Summer Camp. It also starred Megan Berwick, Michael Bower, Danny Cooksey, Venus DeMilo, Tim Eyster, Heidi Lucas, Erik MacArthur and Blake Soper.
Since Salute Your Shorts ended, the cast and crew have reunited multiple times to celebrate the impact that the show had over the years. Their last event, which included Baily, was a trivia night at Nickelodeon’s Good Burger pop-up restaurant in Los Angeles in August 2019.
Two years later, Cooksey, 46, reflected on filming his favorite episode from Salute Your Shorts alongside Baily.
“We also filmed really, really strangely. We would do four [episodes] and then come back and do two. But I think it was a capture the flag episode with a bunch of water balloons. My character really never got his [comeuppance]. Unlike Kirk, who played the counselor — every week, the poor guy was a target,” he shared during an interview with The Ringer. “In that particular episode, [there was] the Platoon death scene, where I’m just getting smashed with water balloons. I remember walking to set and every crew member on the planet had multiple water balloons. They were like, ‘All right, your turn, smarta–.'”
Baily later transitioned into voice acting where he offered his talents to projects including Cowboy Bebop, Metropolis, Hotel Transylvania, Frozen, Big Hero 6 and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run. His prolific career also extended to video games, with Baily voicing characters in Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force, Dead Space: Downfall, Shadow Hearts: Covenant and Condemned 2: Bloodshot.
The New York native continued to guest star onscreen in Felicity, Judging Amy, NYPD Blue, Melrose Place and Star Trek: Voyager. Baily’s final credits are in Night of the Animated Dead, Missing Link and Bumblebee.
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