featuring Dale than any featuring other ex-Neighbours cast members. Dale's characters on most of the American television shows he has appeared on have shared similar character traits, which Dale describes as the "go-to powerful guy". "I either play rulers of the world or the guy who kills the ruler of the world", he said, recalling that his age benefited him after moving to the US, because "A lot of the American middle-aged faces were too familiar, I came along and people were saying 'Who is this great new guy?' And I was cheap". Following his appearance as Senator Eaton in The Killing in 2011, reviewers commented on his tendency to play powerful, wealthy and mysterious characters in many shows. Maureen Ryan of TV Squad wrote that it was "lovely to see Alan Dale playing a typically Alan Dale-ian character. He's always so great at playing That Sketchy Wealthy Guy With a Hidden Agenda, which he has now played on, I believe, 87 different shows. And he always does it well." Coincidentally, Dale's characters in Neighbours, The O.C. and Ugly Betty have all been killed off by a fatal heart attack. Christopher Rosen of The New York Observer wrote in 2008 that "with his square jaw and seemingly no nonsense attitude, Mr. Dale is the go-to actor when casting directors need a conservative-looking authoritarian. When he comes onto the screen, audiences immediately take him seriously, since he radiates rich, smug and serious. He demands your respect." Rosen says that Dale is "not even...a particularly good actor" but is "fine enough" and "bring[s] a no frills, no gimmicks style to his roles," and "manages to give a consistent performance in every show he appears on." Jayne Nelson, writing in magazine SFX, named Dale the second most "serial" science-fiction guest star after Mark Sheppard. She wrote: "The thing is, soap-opera origins aside, Dale is always good. Which is why he keeps getting so much work....Dale never lets you down, always (well, usually) summoning up a pitch-perfect accent, too. There's something comforting about his presence on a show, as though the fact he's in it has lent it some weight." In a profile of his work on "cult shows", Ben Rawson-Jones of Digital Spy called Dale an "institution". Personal life In 1968, Dale married his girlfriend, Claire. The couple had two children, Simon and Matthew, both of whom are involved in the entertainment industry,