Actor Bryan Cranston donates plasma after recovering from coronavirus

Updated: Jul 31, 2020 / 10:53 AM CDT

FILE – In this June 9, 2019, file photo, Bryan Cranston accepts the award for best performance by an actor in a leading role in a play for “Network” at the 73rd annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Cranston contracted and recovered from COVID-19 and has donated his plasma because it contains antibodies, he made the announcement in a video posted to Instagram on Thursday, July 30, 2020. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Actor Bryan Cranston said he contracted and recovered from COVID-19 and has donated his plasma because it contains antibodies.

The actor best known for playing Walter White on AMC’s “Breaking Bad” made the announcement in a video posted to Instagram on Thursday.

Cranston, 64, did not say exactly when he got infected with the new coronavirus, but indicated that it was “quite early on” in the pandemic. He had mild symptoms including a slight headache, tightness in his chest and loss of taste and smell, according to the post.

“I was pretty strict in adhering to the protocols and still… I contracted the virus,” he wrote.

Cranston recorded himself inside UCLA Blood & Platelet Center in Los Angeles making the plasma donation. He said the process took about an hour, during which he watched “A Face in the Crowd” starring Andy Griffith and Patricia Neal.

Cranston urged his followers to wear a mask, wash their hands and practice social distancing.