Dinah Manoff's Son, Dashiell Mortell dies in auto accident at 19

[Zoneboy]

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BAINBRIDGE ISLAND — A Bainbridge Island man was killed in a nine-vehicle crash Saturday while traveling back to school at Washington State University.

Dashiell Mortell, 19, was a passenger in a vehicle taking five WSU students back to Pullman ahead of the first day of spring semester classes Monday. The vehicle flipped on its side after it hit another vehicle that was slowing around a wreck on Interstate 90 near Cle Elum. Mortell was killed when a truck then struck the roof of the vehicle he was in, according to Washington State Patrol Trooper Brian Moore. That crash set off a six-vehicle wreck caused by drivers attempting to avoid the first crash.

Two Bremerton natives and a Vancouver man from the vehicle traveling to Pullman were taken to a Kittitas County hospital with minor injuries. Another Vancouver man from the vehicle was taken to Seattle's Harborview Medical Center in critical condition.

Moore said the crash was caused by driving too fast for the conditions and noted that there had been significant snowfall in the area.

Mortell was a 2015 graduate of Bainbridge High School. He had been involved with student government at the school, rowed with the Bainbridge Island Rowing Club and participated in theater productions with Bainbridge Performing Arts.

Mortell was the son of well-known actress and islander Dinah (Mortell) Manoff and Arthur Mortell. Manoff was a fixture in the “Golden Girls” spin-off show, “Empty Nest,” and made appearances in several movies throughout her acting career, including in a role in “Grease.”

The teen followed in his mother’s footsteps in acting, perhaps most fittingly as a greaser in BPA's 2012 production of "The Outsiders." The show was produced and directed by Manoff.

The young actor's stage presence took that show to a different level, BPA Executive Director Dominique Cantwell said. The young man could fill the stage with magnetic energy, she added.

“He had the talent and the ability for those skills to take him absolutely anywhere on or off the stage,” she said. “He had just this enormous spark and potential that anybody watching could see from a mile away.”

Mortell was widely beloved in the island's theater community and beyond, Cantwell said.

“He had talent and intensity and generosity," she said. "It was just endless, and it will live on in those who loved him on and offstage.”

Funeral arrangements for Dashiell Mortell are pending.

[Anna Karenina]

What a sad story.

This young man was so full of life, had such potential.

There no words.

[mets82]

That sucks. RIP.

[D-Dey]

Dammit! I just recently ordered a copy of "I Ought to Be In Pictures," too.

Not that this makes any difference, but it still sucks.

[king of comedy]

That is sad. My sympathies to Dinah and her family.

[OH Nuts!]

My heart goes out to Dinah and his and family; my deepest condolences to all.

[HuntingtonM15]

What a horrific tragedy for Dinah and her family. My thoughts go out to them. Such a young life ended way too soon.

[LeeBlue]

Very sad news.

Heartfelt sympathy to Dinah and family.

[Nurse Sully]

Simply awful. Way to young. My heart goes out to Dinah and the rest of the family.