High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Palmer Cortlandt (born Pete Cooney) is a fictional character on the long-running ABC soap opera All My Children, played by James Mitchell from 1979 to 2010. A major character until 1982, when health issues forced him to reduce his work load, Mitchell continued to appear regularly on the show until May 2007 when he left due to poor health. Mitchell made his final on air appearance as Palmer Cortlandt on January 5, 2010. Less than 2 weeks later, on January 22, Mitchell died at the age of 89.