In brief: Cody Longo cause of death, ‘Metropolis’ canceled, and more

Chronic alcohol abuse led to the death of Cody Longo, the actor best known for playing Nicholas “Nikki” Alamain in the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives, according to a medical examiner’s autopsy report obtained by TMZ. Longo was found dead in his home in Austin, Texas on February 8 at the age of 34. Longo’s other credits include films like Ball Don’t Lie and the 2009 Fame reboot. The actor also secured recurring roles on shows such as ABC Family’s Make It or Break It and Nick at Nite’s Hollywood Heights…

Apple TV+ has canceled Sam Esmail‘s adaptation of Fritz Lange‘s classic 1927 sci-fi movie Metropolis due to marketing costs and “uncertainty related to the ongoing strike,” a rep for UCP, the studio producing the series, tells Deadline. Metropolis, based on Thea Von Harbou‘s 1925 novel, is set “in a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners,” where “the son of the city’s mastermind falls in love with a working-class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences,” per IMDB…

Paxton Whitehead, the Broadway and TV actor best-known for his recurring role as Hal Conway, the neighbor of Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt‘s Paul and Jamie Buchman in the NBC sitcom Mad About You, died June 16 at a hospital in Arlington, Virginia, his son Charles tells The Hollywood Reporter. Whitehead’s other notable sitcom appearances included playing Mr. Waltham, Rachel’s boss at Bloomingdale’s and the uncle of Ross’ fiancee Emily, on Friends. Whitehead made his film debut in 1986’s Back to School, portraying Dr. Philip Barbay, dean of the business school at Grand Lakes University — boyfriend of literature professor Sally Kellerman‘s Diane Turner and foil to Rodney Dangerfield’s Thornton Melon. Whitehead also had an extensive Broadway career in such plays as the 1980 revival of Lerner & Loewe’s Camelot opposite Richard Burton, for which he earned a Tony nomination…