Marc Blucas has spent years bringing feel-good family films to life on Hallmark, but his life has been marked by a few notably sad moments. 

In December 2024, the Hallmark star lost his mother-in-law, Dayle Haddon, a model-turned-actor who first shot to fame in the ’60s. According to The New York Times, Dayle succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning in Marc’s shared home with her daughter right on the cusp of the new year. Marc’s father, Walter Blucas, also suffered the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning, requiring critical care in a Pennsylvania-based hospital. He survived. 

Following the sad news, Marc’s wife, Ryan Haddon, took to Instagram to eulogize her mother and engage with the well-wishers. “The reach of her spirit and kindness knows no bounds,” she wrote alongside a beauty shot of Dayle. “What really resounds so deeply and thoroughly is the consistency of her leading with her heart in all areas of her life, through decades of living.” She continued, “So many of you are still feeling her energy around you, as are we. Whenever she and I spoke about death, which was often, with great curiosity and awe, she promised she’d send signs and messages when she passed. While deeply feeling her grace in this now, I look forward to her ‘higher realm guidance’ on the path ahead. An angel and guardian to us all.” Near the end of her message, she thanked her community on behalf of herself and her husband, as well as their children. 

While not quite as heartbreaking, this isn’t the only tragic loss Marc has experienced. 

With three decades of acting experience under his belt, Marc Blucas hasn’t done too poorly in life. However, he had another first passion that sadly never came to pass. While Blucas snagged a spot on the Wake Forest University men’s basketball team with eventual NBA star Tim Duncan, he never managed to make it to the NBA. “Every kid who plays basketball wants to make it to the NBA, but I was a tweener: more of a shooting guard in a point-guard size body,” shared the actor with ESPN in 2011. “I knew it wasn’t going to happen. So now I live vicariously through Tim. I’m a Spurs groupie.” Fortunately, his basketball aspirations served as the perfect practice for his TV gig, “Necessary Roughness,” which saw his character working in the sports world. “Because of my sports background, I can offer assistance to the writers to help the storylines appear more authentic,” he shared. “I’m a sounding board, almost a tech adviser. I’m just doing my part.”

The “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” alum isn’t an athlete today, but he never lost his sports enthusiasm, which once nearly cost him a dream gig. “So, I go into my audition like I’m Billy Bad-A** — like, ‘I know sports better than you do,'” he shared about his “Necessary Roughness” audition with The Wrap. “I’m thinking, ‘Oh my God, these guys are such … writers. They’ve never heard of ‘SportsCenter.’ They don’t know what they’re talking about.'” He then detailed the moment he corrected the show’s writers about mixing up the names of real sports teams — The New York Knicks and The Atlanta Hawks — only to find out they had altered things to avoid copyright issues. After that, Blucas sunk down into his chair out of embarrassment, assuming he had talked himself out of the role, though he appeared on the show for three seasons.

That said, unrealized dreams are always a little sad, regardless of what may replace them. Of course, many Hallmark stars have navigated sad events.